Aaron Garze: The 47th Annual Hunger Games
by Ryan22000
Summary: Aaron. A fourteen-year-old boy from district 10 who provides for his family. The oldest of five enters into a horrible arena with his twelve-year-old sister, Cassie, after volenteering for his worst enemy. Can Aaron help his sister win? Maybe Cassie has different things in mind than helping her brother. . .
1. A normal day

1: A normal day

The sun is already shining through my window. I push of my wool covers of my bed and grab Mittens, our black cat, from my bedside. I pet her soothingly so she starts to purr. The noises outside are full of our farm animals in the field. I yawn and get out of bed. I put on a yellow tee, old, baggy shorts, and my boots. I tie the boots up tight and leave my room.

"Cassie; up!" my dad yells to my sister, Cassie. She is twelve-years-old and fairly smart. I almost forgot! Today is the reaping! My sister's first ever reaping too. I quickly run into the hallway, down our steps, and onto the main floor of our house. I run through main floor, but then I stop at the picture of my mom. She died two years ago watching my brother be murdered in what we call The Hunger Games. They are broadcasted all around the districts in Panem. One boy and one girl from each district are put into an arena. The sick part is . . . they fight to the death. Friends vs. friends and enemies vs. enemies. Twenty-three die and one will live on. I have been lucky enough to not be reaping in the two years I have been eligible. I am fourteen now and eighteen is the age that you can no longer be put into the bloodshed.

"I'm up 'ere; getting ready," Cassie calls from upstairs. I quickly sprint into our kitchen to find Ray, Rose, and Spike. Ray and Rose, the twins, are playing with Jack, our border collie. They are the youngest in our family, being seven-years-old. Next, there is Spike, the smart one, always focused on schoolwork rather than house chores. Dad always lets him out of chores. Spike is the middle child with Cassie. Spike is eleven and not twelve though. Next year he will be eligible for the reaping.

I walk over to our fridge and look at the job chart. I guess I can get a few chores in before we leave for the reaping. Maybe I will milk our cow, Lassie. I open the fridge, grab an orange, and peel it quickly. Yum, the tartness is so sweet.

"A. A. A. A. A. A. A. A," screams Ray from the kitchen table. "Can I plea-ease come? I want to hunt some foo' with you," he asks in a low holler.

"Ray my name is not A. It is Aaron and I don't think I'm going hunting today," I say calmly back to him.

"Oh c'mon A-aron," Ray hollers back to me while laughing as he made fun of my name. I give him a stern look and he stops laughing in an instant.

"Only if you stop with the names," I retort back to him. He nods and we set off to the fields.

We walk for about a minute before reaching our barn. The fields that surround our barn are full of farm animals. Sheep, dogs, horses, cows, and even some deer cover the fields. Ray's eyes are mesmerized at all the animals. We finally go inside the barn after looking at the farm animals. I start to milk Lassie as Ray plays around the barn. Once I get one bucket full of milk I head out of the stable.

"Ray!" I scream in terror as I look for him.

"What?" he yells from above the barn. He was just in the chicken coop, messing around.

"Ready to hunt?" I ask him.

"I've never been more ready," he yells as he slides down the ladder wooden ladder to the chicken coop. I quickly run over to my stable and pull open a drawer. I grab five different sized knives and slip them into my belt. Then, I grab a small bow that I used to use when I was younger for Ray. He smiles as I hand him the small bow and a sheath of arrows. We walk out the back door of the barn and set out for a small white fence. I help Ray climb over it and then haul my small body over it as well. I whistle a little tune and my black mustang comes running over to Ray and I.

"This is Bay. She has been my horse ever since I was your age. When you are old enough you will be able to pick a horse for your own," I tell Ray as he watches Bay. He nods and smiles. Ray and I walk deeper and deeper into the fields getting closer and closer to the forest.

"Look," Ray mouths to me. Ray points to a flock of turkeys. I gesture him over to me.

"When I nod; open fire at them," I tell him. "If they charge…," my voice trails off.

"If they charge?" Ray questions to me in terror.

"Run," I say as calmly as I can. I creep silently over to the flock and take out a long dagger. My eyes scan the tall, dried, grass. I pick up a medium sized stone, throw it above me and smack it with my dagger. I nod at Ray to open fire. He pulls back an arrow and shoots, but misses. He slowly charges the next arrow and aims. Ray lets go of the string and the arrows flies through the air and hits a flying turkey in the neck. I whistle and Bay comes running toward me. Ray runs over to me in happiness.

"I got one! I got one!" Ray keeps cheering. I grab the turkey's rough feet and put it on Bay. I then lift Ray up onto to Bay and climb onto her myself.

"Yaw," I yell as I kick her thighs. Bay starts to run Ray and I back home.


	2. The reaping

2: The Reaping

Ray and I finally reach home and Cassie is waiting for me.

"Dad will bring Spike, Ray, and Rose. He will be there right when the reaping starts," Cassie tells me. Cassie is wearing a bright yellow dress and her gray flats. Her light brown hair is fishtailed down one side of her head. She looks beautiful. I nod at her and set of to my room to get ready.

I grab my nicest shorts, orange-brown plaid, and a brown collared shirt to go with it. I guess in District 10 we call this nice. I grab my nice sandals and go back to Cassie.

"Finally! Let's go," Cassie says as we head out the door. Everyone we pass looks unhappy and sad or they are crying. Cassie has her head high and doesn't speak to me. Cassie and I are not particularly close siblings. We hardly ever talk to each other. The only words we say to each are phrases like "Pass the jam," or "When is dad getting home?"

When we finally arrive at the Justice Building, Cassie leaves my side to check in. She doesn't even seem scared. I head to a line to check in.

"Next," a woman peacekeeper tells me. I walk up to the booth and put my hand on the table. She takes out a tiny needle and pokes my index finger. I flinch. She scans the drop of blood and says "Next."

I walk to my age section and wait in my spot patiently. This is the worst part for me. Waiting. Waiting to see if you are to be put into the horror.

I look up to see Leporis Ivory walking out of the Justice Building. Leporis Ivory is always the one to reap the poor boy and girl from District 10. This year must be mint green because he is dressed in all mint green. His tux, shoes, and tie are all mint green. Leporis Ivory even has a tint of green in his skin. His hair is a normal style, but it is green.

"H-hem," Leporis Ivory silences the crowd and we all turn our attention to him. "First off," he starts to say "before this year's reaping we have a very special video from the Capitol," Leporis Ivory squeals as he fixes his tie. The video, that they show each year, starts to play and tells why The Hunger Games came to be. Blah. Blah. Blah. I watch the video with an "oh my gosh face" like I do every year. Leporis Ivory taps the microphone when the video finishes and smiles.

"It is time we pick a boy and girl from District 10 to be put into this year's arena. There is a new Head Gamemaker as well. Her name is Abigail Arrow. Ladies first," Leporis Ivory says as he slowly walks to one of the clear spheres that holds the girls names. He puts his hand in the sphere and moves it around and around. Leporis Ivory finally pulls out a piece of paper and smirks. He walks back to the microphone and says "Cassie Garze." No! Not Cassie! Not my little sister!

"Cassie!" I yell as I run out of my spot to the aisle that separates the boys and girls. "Cassie no!" I start screaming. Ray and Rose, who I can see out of the corner of my eye, are screaming for Cassie too. I don't know why I am screaming like a child because Cassie and I never care about each other. Peacekeepers start surrounding Cassie and they escort her up the stage of the Justice Building. Now peacekeepers start coming to me. They grab my arms and drag me back to my spot. They finally get me at my spot and have the nerve to full out slap me across the face. My cheek starts to burn. It stings. I can feel my cheek turning bright red. I mouth a few words as the peacekeepers go back to their assigned spots.

Cassie hasn't done anything with this commotion. She's just standing next to Leporis Ivory. She doesn't even look mad! There is one thing I can do to save her. One thing that will change my family. One thing that will change District 10. Volunteer for the boy who is reaped.

"Let's get back to the reaping. Shall we?" Leporis Ivory calls out to the crowd. He starts walking over to the opposite clear sphere that holds the boys names. He picks the boy a bit more quickly and then he walks back to the microphone. "Elijah Trummeck," he says calmly and slowly.

Elijah Trummeck, one of my worst enemies at school. Dark brown almost black hair, light brown skin, and a strong body. He is in the so what we call "popular group" at school. The only thing I can beat him at is climbing and running. Elijah Trummeck leaves his spot and walks down the aisle like he owns the place.

"No," I say calmly and loudly. "I volunteer! I volunteer," I yell as I run past Elijah in the dirt aisle. His face stares at me and I give him a slight nod. He walks back to his spot with a very confused face. I walk up the steps to the stage.

"How interesting. A volunteer from District 10. What might your name be?" Leporis Ivory asks me.

"A-Aaron," I stutter. "Aaron Garze," I say more confidently.

"Oh, so this young Cassie must be your sister?" He asks with his same smile. I give a brief nod. Cassie stares at me in disgust. Great, now she hates me even more. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this year's tributes from District 10, Aaron and Cassie Garze!" Leporis Ivory chants.

٭ ٭ ٭

I wait in the small room in the Justice Building. More waiting. Now I am going into the arena though. I need to help Cassie win. She's so mad at me now. Why would I want to help her? She's going to find her own allies. I wait and then I hear knocking at the door. Ray, Rose, Spike, and dad!

"Help Cassie," my dad says to me.

"I might want to survive too you know," I say back.

"Aaron, try to win. Ok?" Ray asks me.

"Of course I will try, but dad obviously wants Cassie to win," I blurt out.

"I want you both to win," my dad says.

"Well that's not how it works now, is it?" I yell to him right when a peacekeeper comes in to take them out.

"Bye guys," I tell them as they leave. I wait for the next knocking and in comes Elijah Trummeck.

"What are you doing here? You should be happy I volunteered for you," I yell at him.

"I am here to tell you thanks and good luck," he says back to me.

"Ok?" I say slowly.

"Thanks and good luck," he says. I nod a thank you and Elijah leaves. Time to go to the Capitol.

Leporis Ivory comes in and takes me to the back of the Justice Building. He has Cassie with him. We get in an automobile and drive to a train platform. Everyone is waving us goodbyes and then we get into the train and set off to the Capitol. Am I ever going to see my family again?


	3. Dixie Cane's Attitude

**A/N:**

**Sorry this took so long. I had lots of homework. Please help me spread the word of this story. I finally feel confident about it. They are finally in the Capitol too! Why is Cassie being so rude? Keep reading to see what the future brings!**

**3: Dixie Cane's attitude **

I step inside to the luxurious train. I start to fill with fear as I get my first look at the Capitol. If this is only the train, I wonder how the actual Capitol is going to be like. My guess is that it is going to be huge skyscrapers with shops on every corner of every road. Leporis Ivory waves me further into the train and he points me to an orange, leather chair. I sit into the plush and immediately I sink into the plush of the chair.

"I will fetch Dixie. Dixie Cane. The victor of two years ago. Garze! I knew I have remembered it from somewhere. Your brother was with Dixie in the Games. Am I correct?" Leporis Ivory asks with a shocked face. Cassie and I both nod. Leporis Ivory walks through the train cart and goes through an automatic door. Everything in this train has the word "Capitol" written on it. There are large tables of sweets, smaller tables of strange colored liquids of blues, oranges, and greens, and things that I cannot even name.

"What the heck did you do you idiot!" Cassie starts screaming at me. "So now one of us is going to die for sure! One winner! Are you stupid!?" My guess is you were thinking we could be allies? You thought wrong!" It takes me a second to soak everything in. Not allies? Who does she think she is, a career? I think Leporis Ivory is going to come in, but instead Dixie Cane comes in.

Dixie Cane, allied with my brother two years ago. She was eighteen so now she is twenty. My brother died from the girl from one, taking a knife to the throat. I remember Dixie's exact words after she threw an axe into the district one girl's heart. She had said to my brother "I will win for you, but if I don't I will never be happy in my after life."

"Hello, my name is Dixie and you two are the District 10's tributes. Names please?" Dixie Cane asks in a surprisingly calm voice. I have heard about mentors being rude and they do not even care, but maybe Dixie will.

"Cassie," my little sister says fiercely.

"Cassie. . . Nice to meet you Cassie," Dixie says as she holds out her hands. Cassie just sits there and doesn't shake it.

"You know, Dixie, just shut up. You are acting like another Capitol person like Leporis," Cassie yells. Now that I think about it Dixie has a little Capitol person in her. She has golden-brown hair that is in a ponytail. That's normal, but she has blue highlights in her hair. Her clothes are blue as well. A blue top, white, baggy pants. The colors are what make her look Capitol-like.

"Cassie, I like to make my tributes feel at home. I don't want them to think of me as just a freak that won't help," Dixie yells back calmly. Cassie gets up from her chair and leaves.

"She's in a bad mood," I tell Dixie.

"I can see that. Now who are you?" Dixie asks me.

"Oh. I am Aaron. Aaron Garze actually," I say to Dixie and her eyes widen.

"Brother of Murray?" She asks me and I give a slight nod.

"Cassie is my younger sister. She is mad at me for volunteering."

"What do you mean?" Dixie questions me while her eyes narrow and one eyebrow goes up.

"I volunteered for the boy who was reaped to help Cassie win, but she is not even going to ally with me," I tell Dixie slowly. Dixie shakes her head in sadness. I think she is thinking of the way only one can survive because if Cassie and I both did there would be a nasty rebellion and we would be the cause of it. If President Snow and his Head Gamemaker, Abigail Arrow, is smart enough to figure that out.

"Well we will arrive in the morning tomorrow. You and Cassie will have about one hour to look 'round the Capitol before I have to take you to the stylist room," Dixie changes the subject. "And Aaron," I narrow my eyes. "Your room is down the opposite door I came from. It is five carts down, on the left," Dixie points me toward a silver door. I nod, stand up, and walk to the automatic door.

The door goes into the silver wall as I get near and I walk through. I walk five doors down and reach a large corridor. I open the door on the left and walk through. There is a circular-type couch and a bed with green blankets. I walk over to a door in my room and open it. There, lined in rows, are sets of clothes. They must be Capitol clothing so I can fit in more. I quickly pull out the most comfortable looking clothes and put them on. They are silk. I climb into bed and cover myself with the green blankets. I start to think of all the ways I have seen the kids kill in The Hunger Games. I slowly doze off into nightmares

٭ ٭ ٭

"Cassie!" I yell as she is mauled by a giant snake-like creature. I climb down from the tree I sit in and start to run. Out of the corner of my eye I see vines starting to move and I feel a sharp pain in my leg. I trip and see a snake biting my leg. "Help! Help! Help!" Blood starts to ooze from my leg and I black out.

٭ ٭ ٭

"Aaron. Aaron wake up," my eyes slowly open to see Dixie Cane sitting on my bedside, full dressed in purple garments and her hair is in another high ponytail with purple highlights. Her eyes are purple now that I realized it and she smiles as I wake up. "You were dreaming. Now chop chop! We will be arriving any moment now," Dixie tells me as she gets up and leaves. I whip my forehead of sweat and calm down.

I walk to the bathroom outside my door. The showers are silver with a golden handle to turn the water on. A huge spout at the top of the shower starts to trickle water. I turn the water hot and smile. I have never taken a warm shower before. I take off my clothes and hop into the silver shower. I wash my hair and body quickly because of the excitement filled in my body to see the Capitol. I imagine tall skyscrapers of silvers and shops that sell sweets. I imagine the city square and the people that roam it and I imagine the avenue of tributes. The chariot rides.

The clothes I can choose from are all sorts of colors. I decide to stick with grays and blue. I take out a gray button-down that has a tint of blue in it. The slacks I pick are almost identical to the shirt. The shoes are strange. When I put them on they start to glow blue. Weird, everything this Capitol has to offer. I go out of my room and go to the kitchen where everyone is Dixie, Leporis Ivory, and Cassie.

"So, are you two ready?" Leporis Ivory asks Cassie and me. I give a nod and Cassie sticks with her usual determined face. I quickly put some jam on a piece of toast and begin eating.

"Try this Aaron. If you like jam, you will like this," Dixie says as she hands me a container of blue liquid. My eyes narrow and I look at her across the table. "It's just a drink."

I take some and pour it into my glass. I take a sip and I surprising jump up. The drink pops in my mouth like eating a blueberry or grape. The flavors of different fruits fill my mouth and I nod thanks to Dixie. She smiles and then her eyes widen.

"We're here!" she says as she pulls me from my chair and to the window. I look out. We go over a waterfall and then I see it. Skyscrapers of silver and I can see small, blurry figures of colors walks in the streets. Everything goes black and I realize we went into a tunnel. We finally reach the end of the tunnel and we are in a huge train station. Time to show my first impression.


	4. First Impressions

**4: The first Impressions**

Cassie, of course, had no intention of walking with me through the Capitol so we split into pairs. Leporis Ivory and Cassie and Dixie and I. I prefer Dixie way better than Leporis Ivory. She is much nicer and she understands me. And I don't think that Dixie even likes Cassie because of what she did and said.

The Capitol is just how I imagined it, but I cannot exactly do much. I am not allowed to be showed to the Capitol yet. That is for tonight. So instead Dixie and I are looking at views of it from a different train we got on. It takes us all around the Capitol and even over it. The train finally stops and Dixie and I get off. We are on top of a skyscraper. Dixie grabs my hand and pulls me over to a balcony. I can see everything from up here.

"I always come up here with my tributes. They enjoy it," Dixie says as she settles onto a nearby bench.

"It's quite enjoyable, but then the Games come and it all turns bad," I say back to her. She nods.

For the next few minutes we sit in silence, watching the city. The people in the city get smaller and smaller because they are heading to the avenue of tributes. Dixie and I finally get back in the train and leave the tall skyscraper. The train takes us to a strange room and Dixie tells me she will see me after this is done. The chariot rides.

Capitol people come and take me to a room. They make me change into a strange garment and then they get to work on me. Cutting nails, plucking eyebrows, putting weird liquids over me, are just a few things they do to me. They all are wearing the same garments except all of their faces are the unique features. One lady has purple skin and purple hair. Her eyes have at least 3-inch eyelashes. A man who looks about in his early twenties has bright green hair and mint green skin. His hair is curled and his lips are purple. When they finally are done they wheel the bed I am laying on to a separate room and leave me there. I sit up and scratch my hair.

Why is there always so much waiting in this process? A lady who reminds me of Dixie walks in. She looks Capitol-like, but in a way she isn't. She looks about Dixie's age. Her hair is fishtailed with mint green highlight. She has mint green eye liner and everything around her eyes is mint green as well. This lady is wearing a mint green skirt and her shirt is a tank top that has a tint of the same color as everything else she is wearing in it. Her shoulders are covered with a thick, black hard thing that connects at her neck. It holds a mint green cape behind her.

"My name is Zipporah. I will be your stylist for your journey. Dixie requested me for you just last night. She said that we are alike," Zipporah says to me. "She told me about your sister. I am sorry for that."

"So, Zipporah, you will choose what I wear?" She gives me a slight nod.

"Stand please." I stand up and she begins to walk around me. "Let's see, District 10 is farming am I correct?" Zipporah asks me.

"Well livestock," I answer her back. She smiles. "Lemme guess. Cowboy and cowgirl?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"My partner, Eldon, who is Cassie's stylist, will plain something out that makes you known. Stylists of District 10 usually do Cowboys, but let's change it up this year, shall we?" I smile at her and she smiles back.

"So you aren't a District 10 stylist?" I question her.

"I originated from the Capitol as all stylists do, but then I got this opportunity to become a stylist. I obviously took and they gave me District 11 and then I proved myself worthy of District 4," she replies as she sits in a chair.

"So you are used to snots from 4?" I ask her.

"They can actually be very kind, but then once the Games come along they turn into monsters. You, Aaron, are the nicest one yet."

"Thanks, but inside if I am to survive I am going to have to kill somebody. I have been thinking about that ever since I got here." She smiles.

"Do not assume what you think. Get ready for chariots," She tells me and I raise an eyebrow, confused.

٭ ٭ ٭

Zipporah dresses me in shorts that go up my upper body into a suit-type thing. The whole thing is mint green.

"Mint green is the color this year," Eldon and Zipporah keep on telling me.

The push of a button is amazing in the Capitol. Zipporah pushes a button on my suit and it glows orange. Cassie has an orange dress-like suit that glows mint green. We look opposite. Cassie's hair is pinned up behind her head in a bun. My hair is slicked to the side. Zipporah puts specks of mint green in both, Cassie and I's, hair.

"Good luck," Zipporah and Eldon say before leaving us on the chariots.

I get up on the District 10 chariot and hold out my hand for Cassie. She ignores it and climbs up herself. Cassie and I stand on our chariot for a few minutes before Caesar Flickermen's voice comes on.

"Here they are the tributes for the 47th Hunger Games!" he shouts on the loudspeaker.

The chariots start going one by one, from District 1 to District 12. Our two horses start to pull our chariot and everyone is screaming and shouting when we get out of the big dome we were just in. The faces of the Capitol people begin to scare me. They are laughing and smiling at us while throwing hats and bushels of flowers. I need a good impression so I start to wave at the crowd. Cassie begins to wave too, but she not dare look at me. My gray eyes gleam over the glow around me.

The whole suit I am in stops glowing, but then a magnificent spark comes from the suit and up into the hair. Cassie's suit does the same and then we stop moving. We are lined up, six in the front and six in the back at the end of the avenue of tributes. I look at the tributes and catch the eye of the boy from 3. His chariot is diagonal in front of mine to the left. In a way he reminds me of Elijah Trummeck, except the boy from 3 has darker skin and darker hair. His skin is a dark tan, light-brown and his hair is dark brown almost black hair. The boy from 3's body is the same as Elijah's. I wonder why he is looking at me. . . I stop thinking about it as President Snow comes onto the loud speaker.

"Welcome. Welcome tributes. Welcome mentors and escorts. This year is the 47th year of The Hunger Games. And . . . May the odds be ever in your favor," I catch the President's eye and it is not pleasant. He sternly looks at me. I look away immediately.

I step out of my chariot and I don't even try to help Cassie down because I know her reaction. Dixie, Leporis Ivory, Eldon, and Zipporah are all waiting for us. Leporis Ivory, of course, was the first to say "That was brilliant you two." I smile at him and look around. The pair from District 3 is looking at me. I look away to see the other tributes. I see a pair that must be from District 4 because of the tridents that are on their backs. The girl is wearing a dress with three tridents sticking out and the boy has a tux and slack on with the same three tridents. They look at me and again I look away. I turn my head to look at the other side of the dome. I see a boy staring at me. He is wearing tight slacks and no shirt except around his shoulder is a cape. Probably from 1 or 2.

"Let's go get settled on our floor," Dixie says and she pulls Cassie and I to the elevator. Floor!? We get our own floor? Wow. I guess they do serve us in the Capitol. I get into the elevator and, of course, the pair from 3 with their escort, stylists, and mentors come to our elevator.

"May we share a ride?" a man asks who must be one of their mentors.

"Of course," Dixie says back to him.

"Thank you Dixie, press 3 please." Dixie nods.

More buttons as usual. This will be awkward. The girl from 3 has no resemblance to the boy. She has strawberry blonde hair that is curled at the bottom, but straight at the top. Her teeth have a slight overbite too. She smiles at me while squinting her blue eyes. A lot of people smile like that, squint their eyes.

"District 3," a woman's voice comes into the elevator and everyone for District 3 gets off.

When we reach the 10th floor all I do is go to my room and go to bed. I slip some pajamas on. The comforter is a smooth, silky green and blue. I smile at the comfort and then before I know it my eyes doze off and I am in a deep sleep.


	5. Cassie's betrayal

**A/N: **

**This chapter was very important so keep it in mind, hope you like it!**

**5: Cassie's betrayal. . .**

I wake up with a big yawn. There is a uniform at the end of my bed which must be the training uniform. It is a tight shirt that has mint green stripes on the shoulder and it has a small _10 _on the top of the back. The pants go to the middle of the calve and there is mint green stripes on the sides of the legs. I quickly put on the shirt and pants, eagerly to get to training. Last night I was thinking about asking the boy from 3 why he was looking at me. I will ask him in training, but maybe not today.

I leave my room and out to an open space. There is a table with plates and silverware. I walk down some steps that are to the right of the table and there everyone is. The kitchen has silver, wood, and gold. I take my place at the table next to Dixie and Cassie.

"Eat up you two. Training can be as hard as the Games. First off, do not show any signs of being good with skills. Cassie you do not show your bow skills and Aaron. . . You never told me your weapon of choice," Dixie starts to tell us.

"Daggers and why can't we show our skills? Wouldn't we want to get better at them?" I ask her.

"Well yes, but the careers. They would offer you in alliance if you are good and being in their alliance is not as good as some think," she tells Cassie and me. "You two go down to the training center alone. You guys should be leaving soon," Dixie tells us. I quickly eat toast with jam on it and the strange liquid that Dixie gave me on the train. I walk to the elevator with Cassie and press the last button at the bottom.

The elevator starts to move down. Its speed quickens as we move lower and lower.

"Cassie, why do you hate me now?" I ask her suddenly not thinking what to say in the awkward silence.

"'Cause you volunteered," she says back.

"Yeah, I volunteered to help you and you aren't even repaying me by helping me!" I yell back at her.

"I don't need your help! Ok!?" she screams into my ear just as the elevator stops, but this wasn't the Training center this was another room we stopped at. The pair from District 1 step into the elevator. The boy towers over both me and Cassie. The girl is like a foot taller than me, but not as bulk as the boy. The boy nods his head at Cassie and she smirks. She has a look on her face that means she's thinking something. The elevator stops after a few seconds of more awkward silence. Cassie and the pair from 1 scramble out of the elevator quickly. I come slowly behind them.

I walk into the training to see most of the tributes line up. Districts 1 through 6 are in the front of the line and 7 through 12 in the back so they form 2 lines. Everything is made up of greens and grays, at least all the climbing structures and things like that. I see the dagger station and realize that it will be hard to stay away from there. I take my place in line next to Cassie and next to the girl from 11. She is small and looks about 13 or 14. I am 14, but people think I am 10 because of the way I look. I focus on the trainer who walks up in front of us and stands on a small pillar with a ladder behind it.

"I am the head trainer, Atala, and you are free to roam around from area to area when I dismiss you. No fighting with the other tributes, you can have fun with that in the arena and pay attention to all skills not just combat," Atala says to us and then she begins reading the list of the areas that we can move on to. I tune out and look for the pair from 3. The boy looks behind himself and looks right at me. Kind of creepy if you ask me.

First off I head over to the archery station. Ray and Cassie used the bow at our barn in District 10. I never really had a go at it. The trainer comes to help me, but then moves on to a girl who must be from 1. I load an arrow and pull it back with one of the gold bows. I aim for a target and release. The arrow hits the upper shoulder. The archery trainer nods in approval and I leave archery. I couldn't survive with a bow in the arena no matter how hard I try. That girl from 1 will go for it.

The next station my feet carry me to is the climbing tower. I quickly put my hands on a ledge and boost myself up. I jump from ledge to ledge which are thin pillars that stick out from a large cylinder. At least five kids surround the big structure and are practicing climbing. When I finally reach the top I stop and relax. I watch the gymnasium floor. A few Gamemakers are watching me as if they are expecting me to do something cool.

The pair from 3 is at some wiring station hooking up all sorts of cords. The girl from 7 has an axe in her hand and is swinging it at some dummies. The careers are all over around the archery station. All six of them plus Cassie who is shooting a bow and is making it at the bulls eye each time! Plus Cassie!? Plus Cassie!? Why is Cassie showing her skill!? And why is she talking to the careers!? I quickly scramble down the mint green and gray structure. The climbing trainer nods at me in approval and I start to walk over to the archery station.

I hide behind a small pillar that must be for looks, but who knows we're in the Capitol. . .

"Your name girl?" asks the boy from 4.

"Cassie Garze, why?" Cassie asks him.

"Career pack material, that's why," the boy from 2 says. He must be the pack leader because he is standing in front of the rest of them. "My name is Tiberius. My district partner, Arrow and the rest of you can introduce your own selves," Tiberius tells Cassie. Tiberius has blonde hair, bright, blue eyes, and a big body. He is the biggest so he must be the leader of the career pack.

"I'm Shine from District 1," a girl with beautiful gold locks of hair with green eyes says.

"I'm Charm, District 1 as well," another boy with brown hair and green eyes says to Cassie.

"Mira, District 4. Please to meet you Cassie," the happiest of them all says as she brings her fingertips to her head, through her hair, and fixes her ombre hair. She smiles brightly at her and flashes her hazel eyes. She is going to get sponsor from the looks of her for sure.

"Talon. I am Mira's brother so that would mean I am from District 4. You better of known that," the boy from four says. He is the complete opposite of Mira. His eyes are a shade of dark, murky blue and his hair. Talon's hair is all brown with black specs in it.

"That leaves me. 'Course Tiberius already introduced me, thank you very much Tiberius," a girl with blonde hair says, flashing her orange-brown eyes from Cassie to Tiberius. "My name is Arrow, third in command of the career pack," she adds in with a frown. I cannot take any more of this. Right as I start walking to a different station. Atala comes on the loudspeaker.

"Tributes please walk to the cafeteria," her voice comes around the training center. I walk to the cafeteria and eat alone. It's nice, the cafeteria. It is a dining hall with a few tables. Mostly everyone is eating alone or with their district partner. The careers are the only alliance formed, for now, I hope. I eat silently and walk back into the gymnasium with the rest of the tributes after about 40 minutes. I walk over to the snare station. The girl from 7 is there and she looks up and smiles at me.

"Not showing your talent too?" she asks me as she looks up from what she is doing. Her hair is brunet with highlights of blonde and her eyes glare at me like a deer's coat. Her eyes are a dusky, light brown and she starts to flash them at me.

A tribute making contact with me? What do I say? What do I do? Can I trust her? "Yeah I guess, you have a special skill?" I tell her not knowing what else to say.

"Hm. . . You are asking me to give away my secrets? I will if you do," she adds in and I give her a nod. "Ok well District 7, lumber, what would you guess I would be good with?" she asks me.

"My guess would be an axe," I tell her.

"Ding, ding, ding! Correct! You're pretty smart ten, now for your secrets," she starts to listen very carefully.

"Well I guess I am a great climber, but my weapon would be daggers. I never miss, usually," I tell her.

"Daggers. Cool. My name is Megan, but everyone calls me Meg."

"I guess and I am Aaron."

"Ah. . . A-aron."

"Don't call me that. You are sounding like my little brother," I look at her sternly and she laughs.

"Well are you saying I am now a boy related to you?" she questions me and we both laugh. "This may be strange, but I don't have any allies. . ."

"Yes!" I shout out before she can finish her sentence. "Sorry, I just couldn't stand going into the arena alone."

"You and me both huh? But I don't think we stand a chance against the whole career pack. We might need to find some more."

"Ok, but let's find them tomorrow I have had a rough day. My sister joined the career pack today."

"That little Cassie!? Wow she must have pure talent with a bow," Meg shouts out.

"Gold talent actually."

"That means we have seven careers now," she says with a bummed out face.

Meg and I hangout for a while just talking. I feel great about having an ally. I wonder how dinner tonight is going to go. I am going to ask Cassie many questions. I know that Dixie will go mad and same with our stylists. Leporis Ivory is a different story. He will probably just ask her questions without freaking out.


	6. The evil starts to come

**A/N:**

**I hope you guys like this chapter!**

**6: The evil starts to come**

I sit down at the table with Cassie, Dixie, Eldon, Zipporah, and Leporis Ivory, fancy as usual, of course. There was something about the other that seemed not Capitol like. I quickly cut up the pasta sitting in my bowl with a fancy light purple sauce. I dipped my finger in the purple sauce and licked it. A little bit of tang and a little bit of spice, yum, just right. I spread the sauce through the bowl so each strand of pasta had the purple sauce on it.

"So how was the first day of training?" Dixie speaks up, fixing her hair into a ponytail.

"Mine was great and how 'bout you Cassie?" I stare at Cassie.

"Fine," she said in a small yet determined voice. She really didn't care about anything.

"How are the careers treating you!? Nice and fine like they promised? I bet you love Tiberius and Talon and Charm! You love them all and you betrayed us! Don't you remember your family?" I burst out loud at her and everyone starts to freak out.

"You are selfish!", "What the hay were you thinking!?", "All you care about is getting home and you forgot what home!" they all start to shout at her.

"Yeah. All I want to do is get home! Is that fine!?" she shouts back.

"How did you join them anyway?" asks Eldon with a stern look on his face.

"My bow skills and I am not the only one with allies. Aaron care to tell us about that?" Cassie asks me with a smirk of joy.

"Yeah, one ally, and I am getting more tomorrow. At least I am not with the careers!" I scream back at her. Cassie gets out of her chair comes over to me grabs my shirt and throws me to the ground.

"Cassie!" everyone starts screaming. I grab her neck and shove her into the wall, but she knees my stomach and she forces me to the ground.

"I don't care that I am with the careers," she says as she twists my elbow and forces me to the ground. "I just want to get home and AT LEAST I can fight now because of them."

Dixie runs over to us and grabs Cassie in the shoulders and pulls her off of me.

"Let's all relax," Dixie says as Eldon hold me back from attacking my little sister. My little sister? How can I call her that now? She is a monster now. She is one of them! I try to fight Eldon's grip, but he holds me back.

"Let's finish eating calmly and see who we have to work with. We can watch the T.V for information on other tributes," Zipporah buts in before another fight breaks out. Eldon releases me and I walk over to my seat. I sit down in the chair and begin to eat, thinking about what just happened. My forehead is sweating like crazy. What did the careers teach my sister? If she is torturing me like that now by just twisting my elbow back. What will she do in the arena when she has her favorite weapons with her? One thing if for sure. I need allies, badly.

We all settle ourselves on the plush sofas, couches, and chairs. I sit in between Zipporah and Dixie on the couch, while Eldon sits in a chair and Leporis Ivory and Cassie sit on a small sofa. I let out a deep sigh before Zipporah turns on the television. She clicks a button and a screen appears across the back marble wall. I look out the window and everyone out there is bustling with excitement.

A list of the tributes names, picture, and age appear on the screen.

"You allied with the careers this year. They all look good and not every year they are all good," says Dixie. "They will put up a fight in the arena Aaron," Dixie is looking directly at me. She must not care about Cassie anymore seeing that Cassie wants to make her own decisions. "Now Aaron, who are you allied with?" Dixie asks me.

"Girl from seven, Megan. We get along well and she is good with axes," I say back.

"So she says," bursts out Cassie with a smirk.

"Ok and who were your other ones Aaron?" Dixie asks.

"Nobody, Meg and I are going to search tomorrow."

"Any in mind?" asks Zipporah. I give a slight nod and they all raise an eyebrow.

"Probably more weaklings that my pack gets to pick off, one by one," says Cassie and I try to hold back rage. "One by one we will kill them and one by one we will torture the ones that deserve it," my mind starts to flood with rage and I stand up and runs over to Cassie, pull her from the sofa and shove her back down.

"None of these are weaklings accept you because the careers can fight, but are they smart, no!" I scream at her.

"That's where I come in A-aron. Isn't that what Meg called you? While she was flirting with you? C'mon you know what I am talking about," Cassie's smirk grows wider and wider as my face gets madder and madder.

"She wasn't flirting! We were trying to get our minds off things!" I scream and Cassie kicks my legs so I fall and hit my head on the coffee table.

"Sure you were", "Sure you were", "Sure you were" I keep hearing over and over again as everything starts to spin. Everything I can see starts to fade and everything becomes black, bold, dark black.

٭ ٭ ٭

Everything is still black, but that is because my eyes are closed.

"C'mon Aaron, wake up!" I hear a voice yell as I start to come back to my normal self. I slightly open my eyes to a crevice and see a pair of orange eyes looking down on me. It's Dixie with her colored contacts. Purple and now orange. I open my eyes a bit more and then sit up.

"W-what happened?" I ask Dixie.

"You kind of hit your head on the coffee table," she tells me while stirring a mug of green liquid. "Drink this, it helps the pain." I take the mug with a smile and a cold chill runs down my spine. I shiver and think about Cassie, fighting me and torturing me.

"What time is it?" I ask as I get up all the way while drinking the green liquid. Yum, tastes like happiness in a mug.

"Time for training in 10 minutes so chop, chop!" Dixie says while clapping her hands and shoving a plate of toast in front of me. I scramble to the table, eager to meet Meg and tell her what happened. I remember the view of her dusky, brown eyes, flashing upon me. No! Cassie isn't right! Meg was just being friendly not flirty, I hope.

By the time I finish my toast I have already dressed into my training uniform. I head down the elevator without Cassie to get to the gymnasium a bit earlier. I enter the gymnasium and barely any tributes are in here. There is only about five tributes in here really, the girl from 3, the pair from 8, me, and Meg! I run over to Meg, more eager than ever. She looks up from the plant test she is doing and smiles at me.

"Your face looks weird. . . What happened?" she asks me right away.

"Cassie," I say back,

"What about her?" she asks.

"We fought and fought. While looking at the tributes my body went full of rage and I cracked. She tripped me and I fell. My head hit the coffee table and I blacked."

"Ready to form an alliance? I think five would be enough," Meg says as she starts to look around.


	7. The Strong Alliance

**A/N: **

**Another successful chapter! I have been posting dayly, I hope you guys all like that! Three more days until the Games! WOAHH! Excited!? I know I am excited to write them! Private sessions, Interviews, and OH 2 days!**

**7: The strong alliance**

I start to look around. Meg and I watch tributes, very closely and secretly. It is kind of hard watching tributes without them knowing so we have decided to go to stations that tributes are at.

First, we head out to the spear station which has the girl from 5. She is pretty well with spearing, but every time we follow her it is to a weapon station. We need smarts too. Next, we head for the boy from 11. He is the opposite of the girl from 5. Instead of big and bulk, he is slim and small. All he is doing is naming plants and climbing. Just as we leave the boy from 11 a thought pops into my head.

"District 3!" I say to Meg and she raises an eyebrow.

"What about them?" she questions me.

"They would be perfect allies!" I yell back in a low holler.

"Well where are they?" I point the boy out and wonder why the girl isn't with him. The thought of that is weird. They were always with each other. Meg and I start to walk over to the boy from 3 while he practices throwing daggers. Every time he misses he cusses. He looks at us as we get over to him.

"Well if it isn't Aaron Garze and. . ." he says while he puts the daggers back on a table of them.

"Yeah I am Aaron and this is Megan, but call her Meg," I say back.

"From 7?" Meg and I nod. "Well you were wondering why I kept staring at you? I watched your reaping and saw you were smart, but not too smart because you volunteered. And it seems like Cassie is doing just fine by herself," the boy says as her nods toward the pack of the seven careers, including Cassie.

"We were wondering if maybe you and your District partner were interested in an alliance," I ask him.

"I'll ask Katrina, but Katrina and I don't get along really so you might have to ask her. Gavin is my name, by the way," Gavin says.

Meg struts off to a weird food station and Gavin and I go to the axe station.

"Aaron, we will need to be good with all weapons so we can grab whatever and still be safe," Gavin tells me and I nod. By the looks of it, we avoid the dagger and blade station. His weapon must be a blade. Gavin is from District 3 so he must be smart at wiring and stuff like that.

First we head over to the scythe section. The girl from one, Shine is there beating dummies with the tips of the scythe blade. The long pole to hold the triangular blade is a bit heavy. This is more of Gavin's weapon.

"Gavin, are you good at plant spotting or naming?" I ask him.

"Fairly, ok at it, kind of, no, not at all," he tells me in a quick sentence.

"Ok I will teach you a few things only if you teach me something about wiring, deal?" he nods and we head out to the plant naming section.

The girl from 8 is here. She looks up and leaves as we get over to her.

"I wonder what's up with her," Gavin says.

"Probably doesn't want to form an alliance," I tell him. First I teach him which berries are poisonous and which berries are free to eat. Next I teach him what edible roots and plants are ones that will quench your thirst or make your hunger go down. Lastly I tell Gavin which plants will boost your energy because if they are in the arena you will want good energy to keep up and running.

"Wiring is memorization, but it is more skill than that," Gavin starts to tell me as we walk to a platform with different types of wires and small gadgets are on it. "Unlike plant knowing and naming what they are, wiring has to be done right or something very bad could go wrong."

"Ok," I say as I give him a slight nod. Gavin starts to hook pieces together and I get confused at which wires go where. "Er. . . Gavin I kinda lost you a long time ago," I say and we both start laughing.

"Ok maybe wiring is not a thing for District 10 people. What do you guys do anyway?" Gavin asks me and he actually sounds interested in District 10.

"Well my dad works on a farm for this guy. Many people work on that guy's farm. I work on our own farm. The best thing about our farm is that there is a forest at the edge of it. I hunt for my family in our field. I guess for fun I ride horses and go into the forest. What does District 3 boys do? I ask him.

"Well, school is mostly about the Capitol and wiring so most of the time I spend time wiring in class. We have a gymnasium that is to practice weapons and more wiring. At home I do chores and watch my mom dress like a Capitol person and I do more wiring," he tells me.

"I get it, lots and lots of wiring." Gavin and I start to laugh.

"Tributes please head to the cafeteria for lunch," Atala's voice enters my ears from the loudspeaker. Gavin and I head to the cafeteria. We quickly find Meg and sit down with her.

"So, what did you two do in training?" she asks us instantly.

"Wiring, plants, and scythes," I tell her as I look at the food set out at our table. Some fancy chicken with an orange sauce is the main course. I grab a cheese stick that is from a bundled up pile of them. I eat it quickly, not caring of the hotness in my mouth. I take a drink of the liquid in my cup and swallow. Green liquid that tastes like fruits, not bad at all. I take another gulp before putting some chicken and sauce onto my plate. The meat is soft and easily chewable. I cut the chicken up and dip it in the orange sauce. The taste that fills my mouth is full of flavor, mostly Capitol flavor, of course. The sauce is sweet, but spicy at the same time. It floods in my mouth and makes me thirsty. I take another drink of the green liquid, gulp.

At least at this lunch I am not sitting alone, watching the careers laugh and pile in all the food they can eat. Gavin, who is sitting across the table from me while Meg is next to me, start to widen his eyes. I turn around and see Katrina heading right for us. She has pep in her step. Gavin better get ready for a spark of madness.

"You idiot!" she yells at Gavin in a whisper. "You decide to run off and make allies and leave me out!" She smiles as she looks at Meg and I and then her eyes go back to Gavin.

"Ok, sit down then Kat," Gavin says and it make her more furious.

"Don't call me Kat you lunatic!" she yells at a whisper again.

"Well let's calm ourselves ok? We all good? Ok. I'm Aaron and you must be Katrina," I say to lighten the mood and Katrina nods at me.

"I am Megan, but call me Meg. Ok Kat?" Meg giggles and Katrina's eyebrows slant inward.

"Not you too," Katrina says to Meg. We all finish our food in peace and now I take it that Katrina is in our alliance.

"One more Meg and then we will have a tight alliance of five," I tell Meg as we leave the cafeteria.

The last person I can think of is the girl from 11, Halle is her name.

"What about her?" I ask Meg, Gavin, and Katrina.

"I'd say she is good," Katrina says.

"I'm in," Gavin says.

"Why not?" Meg says with a smile.

We head over to Halle from 11 and smile at her. Her face frightens in fear at the sight of the four of us.

"Hi, I'm Gavin, this is Aaron, Meg, and Kat, excuse me, Katrina," Gavin says to Halle as we reach her.

"Halle, District 11," she says back and stands up from what she is doing.

I would say that Gavin is the leader of our group. He is the biggest, bulkiest, and fairly smart. Well none of us in our group are really big. We are all 14 too except our sizes make the differences.

"We were wondering if you want to join our group so we have a better chance of winning." Gavin asks her with a small smile.

"Yes! Thank you so much," she tells us with a gigantic smile on her face.

٭ ٭ ٭

Today was a very successful day to me. I made a great alliance of five. I wonder how the career pack will take it. I hope they have troubles with us, the rebels. A smirk comes across my face as I head up the elevator to the 10th floor.


	8. Career worthy?

**A/N: One more chapter before the Games!**

**8: Career worthy?**

I wake up with a smile on my face. Why am I becoming happy? Probably because I have a better chance in the Games than I did before. Now we have a pack of 5 verses a pack of 7. It might be hard to defeat the career pack, but there is one thing they have that they don't. The smarts. All they have is tributes that can fight. Cassie is probably the only smart one there if she is even smart anymore. I can tell by the looks on her face each day that she is in a good spot in the career pack. Could she be in charge? No, definitely not. Tiberius is in charge, for sure, I hope. . .

I get my training uniform on and head to the dining room where everyone is eating.

"Ok so today is the day for private sessions. You will have a half day and then they will call you in, one by one to judge your skills. This is when you show your skill Aaron," Dixie says to me as I sit down. Obviously she is just talking to me about this because she doesn't even mention Cassie's name or looks at her. Dixie goes back to eating a waffle with a sticky, smooth, yellow sauce. I grab a waffle from the pile of them and pour some syrup on it. I cut them up and start to eat.

I wonder what is going to happen in my private session. In three days I could be alive or . . . dead. I cannot die at the bloodbath, although that is where the majority of the tributes die. One year, I watched, 17 tributes died at the bloodbath, sick! The careers that year were really aggressive and it might have been how all the other tributes were boxed in for a certain amount of time. 17 dead and 7 alive. I bet that was a short Game.

It doesn't really matter about the careers though. No matter how aggressive or strong it all depends on the other tributes. The smarts run, the strong ones go in and get stuff, the weaklings do both, run in and run away. The weaklings that run for the cornucopia always end up dying. The only good thing about dying at the cornucopia is that if you die from a career they kill you quickly to get it done and over with. Whereas at a feast they will savor every second of killing you. 

I finally finish eating after thinking about the Games. I guess today my allies and I will make a plan, hopefully. I just hope that Gavin will make a good plan for us, but no matter what he says I am running in for the supplies. Even if Dixie says not to, I still am going to.

"Good luck Aaron!" Dixie, Zipporah, Eldon, and Leporis Ivory shout as I leave.

The elevator starts to zoom me down to the first floor. I step out of the elevator and rush into the big gymnasium. I quickly find Gavin, Kat, excuse me, Katrina, and Halle. Meg is the only one not here. I walk over to Gavin and the others fairly quickly.

"Ok plan, we all need to think about things, like our skills," Gavin tells them as I reach them.

"Truthfully I am not fast so I will not be much help at the cornucopia," Halle says.

"Aaron come sit down. We are talking about the plans at the start," Gavin tells me just as Meg struts over as well.

"What I miss?" Meg asks and we shake our heads.

"Plan: I would say that I will run in and get weapons, supplies, and all we need and the rest of you meet up wherever I point," Gavin says.

"Heck no!" I yell to him. "You aren't gonna be the only one running in to the cornucopia," I say.

"Ok then Aaron and I will then?" he asks to everyone.

"No, I want to run in to help too!" Katrina and Meg scream.

"Oh my gosh! Well Halle will be standing there looking vulnerable then. And we do not know the arena or where we will be standing and what we will be standing on. What if it is a water arena? Huh? What then? I do not think any of us know how to swim," Gavin screams to us all. I raise my hand in an awkward position and his head tilts. "You can swim?" he asks me. I nod at him. Before my mom died she took me to a water hole in the woods. It's where I hunt for animals and swim besides the field for hunting.

"I would say that Gavin will give us hand motions in the arena while the countdown is. And in my opinion we should go where ever the other tributes won't," I say to them so Gavin doesn't get more mad than he already is.

"Tributes start to enter the cafeteria for lunch and one by one each of you will be called," Atala's voice sounds out from the loudspeaker. Gavin, Katrina, Meg, Halle, and I start to head for the dining room.

We all sit at one table and the careers all look at us. They finally figured out that we formed an alliance of five. I just hope we are strong enough to defeat them. The careers from 1 to 2 have gone and Gavin goes in next. It must be at least a 10 minute span. I hope they focus on me when I go in. Katrina goes in. Mira goes in and then Talon goes in. The pair from 5 and 6 is the next to go. Meg goes in. Oh my gosh! Why does everything we do have to do with waiting.

I am finally left with Cassie, Halle, the boy from11, and the pair from 12.

"Cassie Garze," a woman's voice comes in the dining room. Cassie goes in without a word. I wonder what she is going to show them. Halle sits next to me, when she grabs my hand tightly. We sit there for a moment just holding hands and my name is announced.

"Aaron Garze," the same woman's voice who said Cassie's name says. Halle tries to hold me back from getting up, but I fight her off and smile

"Good luck Aaron," she says with her kind eyes.

"Thanks, you too," I say with a nod and smile. I walk into the gymnasium and walk to where the Gamemakers are at. They are up on a balcony.

"Aaron Garze," I say confidently. At least I hope I said it confidently. The first place I walk over to is the plant naming section. I name each plant correctly from roots to strange types of leaves. Next, I walk over to the climbing wall. I quickly climb it, jumping from limb to limb. When I finally reach the top I jump off and I glide down the limbs quickly. Lastly, I walk over to the daggers. I grab five of them. One of them has a long, curved blade. I smile as I finally hold my favorite weapon.

I hold up a long one and squint one eye. I aim and throw my dagger with full force to a dummy. The dagger splits the dummy into two. I smile and grab another dagger. This one is shorter with a thick blade. This time I turn around. I look at the dummies from the corner of my eye and throw my blade backward. I turn around to look and it has cut the head of the dummy in two. Another successful throw. I need to make this more interesting. I walk over to a strange station. I saw the girl from 2, Arrow, here. The target lights up and that's the one you throw the knife or dagger at. It's tricky though. The glowing of green appears at certain targets on the dummies. I press a button that must start it because dummies start to move around. I quickly grab a few more daggers and get ready. A target glows, throw! Throw! Throw! Glow and then throw! Nailed it! Bull's eye! I smile as I make each one. The targets start to spin around me, quicker and quicker, I throw them as they each glow and then everything becomes still.

"Aaron Garze, you are dismissed Thank you," says the Head Gamemaker, Abigail Arrow. She's dressed in a bright green dress and her hear is entangled in green decorations.

I leave feeling very confidently, but did I show them enough? I am pretty sure that I did, I mean I did show them my smarts and my fighting skills. That should be good enough.

I press the number _10_ in the elevator and it starts to go upward. I arrive on the 10th floor. Everyone is sitting in the living room. I guess we will snack until Caesar Flickerman starts to tell us our private training scores. I am hoping for at least a 6, 7, or 8. Although it may be possible for me to get a 9 or 10, but highly unlikely. I just hope I get a good score so everyone knows I am worthy competition.

I sit next to Dixie and Zipporah on the plush couch again. We all sit and relax until; finally, Caesar Flickerman comes onto the T.V.

"As you all know each tribute was so you say rated on a score of 1 to 12. Best of luck. District one; Shine, with a score of 9. Charm, with a score of 8," Caesar says on the gigantic screen. I bet Charm wasn't happy with that. "District two; Arrow, with the score of 10. Tiberius, with the score of a 10." Oh great both from 2 get a great score! Let's see what Gavin and Katrina get. "Next we have from District three; Katrina, with a score of an 8. Gavin," pictures of each tribute appear as Caesar says their name. "With a score of a 9." Perfect! I just hope I get a career worthy score. "District four; Mira, with a score of a 10. Talon, with a score of 9." The rest of the tributes I really do not care about except for Meg, Halle, the girl from8, the boy from 11, and, of course, myself and Cassie.

Meg received an 8 just like Katrina. Our whole pack, so far, has gotten a career score. The girl from 8 ended up with a 7 which is one away from a career score.

"District 10; Cassie Garze with that score of . . . a 10," Caesar's voice stops and I look at Cassie. She smirks at me.

"I guess the careers can teach me things," she says with the same smirk on her face.

"Aaron Garze with the score of, oh wow look at this, a 10," Caesar starts shaking his head. "The pair from 10 with two 10's!" I look at Cassie and I put a fake smile on my face.

"Good luck career. And may the odds be never in your favor," I tell her with an accent.

Halle receives a 7 which must be from her climbing skills. The boy from 11 received an 8. He is small, but bulk. I hear in District 11, agriculture, they do a lot of climbing into trees.

I head up to bed with a happy look on my face. I am so lucky I did the three things I am best at. I take off my training uniform, put on comfier cloths, and hop into bed. Tomorrow is the last day in the Capitol before I am put into the arena. I finally doze off into a deep sleep.

"Aaron! Help!" Meg screams. I run over to her and find her with a knife in her throat. Meg's face is staring up at me and a tear slides down her cheek. I look around, grab my dagger, and throw it in Arrow's head. A canon goes off and I am left alone with the dying Megan.

My eyes open and I awake with a scream. My forehead is dripping sweat. The interviews are today. I am so nervous. My stomach is gurgling around. I guess I can prove to the sponsors that I am one of them, if I want to be one of them. I just hope I will impress them and my family. What is going to happen? My family! I miss them so much!


	9. The Interviews

**A/N:**

**Very late update I am really sorry! I have a question for you guys. Should I make a sponsor system for you guys to sponsor? Just an idea. Next chapter is the bloodbath :DDDDDD I am so excited for the arena. My friend, Eli, who is based on Gavin, and I made it together. I might post who each of my friends is, but some of them are just my creations! Read on!**

**9: The Interviews**

"Aaron! Wake up! Zipporah needs to dress you and prepare you for interviews. UP!" Dixie screams as me as I wake up. I simply pull off my clothes and put a towel around me, ready for a big outfit from Zipporah.

I walk into the hall, down the steps, and into the living room.

"Ah, Aaron you are up and around," Zipporah says to me with a smile. Does she really call this up and around? All I have on is a towel around me. "Now Aaron I have planned a perfect tuxedo for you. Come, come. Time to get ready."

"But it's so early," I say with a groggy voice. Zipporah comes over to me and yanks my by the hand to drag me out of the room. I hold my towel up and follow her. She takes me to a room I have never been in.

"Now put on some clothes so you don't have to go out in the Capitol with a towel," Zipporah tells me as she hands me a t-shirt and shorts. I pull off my towel and slip on the shorts and t-shirt. Zipporah then brings me out of the whole building we are in. She takes me to a large, black building. Everyone we pass stares at us and moves closer. It is weird, being so popular. We enter the building and go to a strange room labeled with a _10_. There are two rooms with10's so one for me and the other one is for Cassie.

Sitting in my room is a bright orange tuxedo. The slacks are also a shade of orange. The shoes are a dark orange that shine in a light. Zipporah helps me slips on the tux, slacks, and shoes.

"Here," she says as she hands me a small box. "A bowtie. It has a perfect, complex design in it," she says while giving me a big smile.

I take out the small bowtie and Zipporah helps me put it on. The minute Zipporah ties it around my neck it starts to glow a great yellow. The texture of it turns to a hay texture like the kind we give Bay at home. Zipporah looks at me and smiles.

"Orange looks perfect on you! It matches my hair as well," she says and she gives me a big hug. Her hair is orange now. All around her eyes is orange too. I smile at Zipporah as our hug stops. "I wish you the best of luck during the interviews. And, obviously, during the Games too, but I will see you right before the Games," she says with wide eyes.

"Good. And thank you. But Zipporah," her head tilts and one of her eyebrows rises. "Where do I go now?"

"You walk out the door and head to the right. You will see the rest of the tributes there, waiting. Then they will call your names and you walkup the stage. When you are done, come to either this room or Cassie's. Ok?" Zipporah says as she gestures me to the door. I give her a firm nod and head out the door.

I walk down the right hallway and meet the rest of the tributes at a room on the end. To the left are some stairs up to a stage. Caesar Flickerman is waiting for the first person to come out. I peek around the corner to see all the Capitol people. They are in rows of at least 50 and there must be at least 1000 rows. The farther back you sit the high you are. It is like they are sitting upon a wall.

"Let's have our first tribute! Shine from District 1!" Caesar Flickerman shouts. As usual the girl from one has a low dress that is a shade of bright purple. She runs out on the stage, smiling at the crowd. All they talk about is how prepared she is and how she is with the Career Pack.

Before I know it Katrina and Gavin are next. Katrina walks on stage in a long pink dress. Her hair is flowing down in waves of strawberry blonde.

"Well, well, well, Katrina from District 3 is looking good tonight! Am I right folks?" Caesar asks the crowd and then they start screaming and yelling. "Ok settle down, settle down. Katrina, tell me, are you one of the smarts from District 3 or a fighter?" Caesar looks at her sternly.

"Well I would say I am a bit of both," Katrina says confidently. Caesar nods at her.

"Is there a special someone at home? What about Gavin, any connection there?" Caesar asks her and she immediately gets ferocious.

"No, definitely not Gavin! We are just, well, allies," Katrina tells Caesar back.

"Ok big applause to Katrina!" Katrina leaves the stage and Gavin goes up to it.

"So Gavin. You do not look like you are from District 3. Big and bulk, that is the opposite of 3. Same question to you. Smart one or a fighter?" Caesar asks him.

"Same as Katrina. I am very smart, but I am just as good at fighting with a certain weapon," Gavin says.

"What did Katrina mean by just _allies_?" asks Caesar with a curious face.

"Not very good friends, but we do care about each other. I know that for a fact."

"Well you got a career score, nine. Do you want to tell us about that?" Caesar asks looking even more curious than ever. Gavin shakes his head and the buzzer goes off.

The rest of the tributes are freaking out with their interviews. Half of them don't say much. Before I know it its Meg's turn. She goes out there with her normal strut and begins chattering up a storm. I have grown fond of Meg since we've met. Meg and Gavin are probably my favorite tributes in my alliance. Katrina's ok and Halle is just plain awkward. When she held my hand before my private session I got a little weirded out. Anyways she is still very nice and deserves a chance, unlike Cassie and the rest of the idiot careers.

"Cassie Garze!" Caesar screams and Cassie goes out. Her hair is fishtailed up in a bun and long waves of her hair flow out behind her. Her dress is a shade of dark green. It has a peach belt around it.

"Hello Caesar and all of you of course," Cassie says as she looks out at the crowd.

"We have a proper lady right here! Am I right folks?" Caesar, Cassie, and the crowd start to laugh.

"Well I have learned a bit in the Capitol," she says with an unpleasant smile.

"Yeah? And what is that?" Caesar asks her with both eyebrows raised up high.

"That no matter who you are, you always belong with the Capitol." My face turns to disgust as she says this.

"Yeah I could not agree more. How is the Capitol treating you?" Caesar asks.

"Quite fine."

"And how does Aaron like it?" My eyes widen as he asks this.

"Well Aaron and I are no longer siblings to him. Just because of my actions he has decided to hate me," Cassie says and there is a long Aw. That little liar! I am the one who decided to join the careers? I made the bad decisions? Oh yeah!

"Well Cassie we look forward to hear your brother's opinion on it. Big round of applause for Cassie Garze!" The crowd cheers and then I shove past Cassie up the stage steps as she is walking down them. She gives me a big smile and walks back to the room.

"Aaron Garze!" I walk out on stage and smile at the crowd. It's time to get sponsors!

"Hi Caesar," I say as I shake his hand with a firm grip.

"Well, very firm grip you got there Aaron," he says back and the crowd laughs. "Now tell me. Is this true about Cassie and you," he asks with a stern face.

I give a slight nod and say "I would rather not talk about it." I make my eyes tear up and I know everyone is buying it. The crowd is all going Aww and Boo!

"Well folks, let's make this happier, shall we? You got a ten on your private training! Want to tell us about that?" he asks. I don't want to show my skills, but we need to make this interview happier. I wipe my now teary eyed eyes and clear my throat.

"I showed the Gamemakers my skills! I do not want to expose my talent, but I will say I showed them three different skills I learned," I say with a bright smile on my face.

"How about alliances?" Caesar asks me.

"Er. . . Would you guys want to wait for the Games!? I am exposing so much!" the crowd laughs.

"I guess we will wait until the Games. Let's hear it for Aaron Garze of District 10!" Caesar yells and the crowd goes wild.

I walk down the stage steps and into the room marked _10_. Everyone is in here, Dixie, Zipporah, Eldon, Leporis Ivory, and Cassie.

"Let's go upstairs, shall we?" says Dixie and we start heading for the hallway.

"Upstairs? We are in another building I thought," I say with a blank face.

"Oh well we can go upstairs and go through this tube that leads us straight back to our room. The things the Capitol builds. I swear every time I am here it is different," Dixie says back to me as we go up a wide staircase. The next place we go is a big room with gigantic windows. We walk toward the wall and Dixie clicks a button. A door slides open and a tube appears. We walk through it and all of it is clear. I look down and there are tons of people walking in the streets and automobiles running along the streets. I look at all the skyscrapers. They are all glowing up and everyone is partying. In some way I have grown to like the Capitol. Probably just because I have made so many friends along this journey and now my whole journey and life could be ending tomorrow.

٭ ٭ ٭

When we get back to our floor I head straight upstairs not wanting to talk to anyone because of the things they would say. They would all be talking about the Games tomorrow and I for one do not want to be a part of it. I put on a tee and sweat pants. I climb into bed, thinking of the careers and the Games. They are tomorrow. They are tomorrow. They are tomorrow. This is the only sentence I kept repeating in my mind. I close my eyes because I know I will need a good rest if I want full energy. Time to show Panem my alliance and my real self. I drift off into a deep sleep.


	10. The Goodbyes AND The Arena

**A/N: **

**I have waited a while for this! The Arena is here! Who will die? What will happen! Reviewing helps me a lot so review about it all! Thanks guys!**

**10: The goodbyes and the arena**

I wake up with a start and realize in a few hours I could be dead. Dead. No more living or talking. Dead. Just dead. The good thing is that I would be off this horrible place. Zipporah comes to get me in my room. She hands me a tee and some baggy shorts. The full arena outfit will be put on under the arena. She takes my hand and smiles.

"Are you ready?" Zipporah asks with a smile and sad face.

"No, but I guess I have no choice but to be," I say back with lack of confidence. She gives me a nod and we head for the elevator. I step into it and it takes Zipporah and me up to the roof of the building.

The wind has a bit of a mist in it. It is still very humid here, in the Capitol. I look through the mist and a hovercraft appears into sight. It flies above me and a rope drops down. I put my hands on the silver, hard rope and then place my feet up. I start to climb but then I become sealed. Something has stuck me to the ladder. The ladder starts moving up, taking me into the hovercraft.

The hovercraft is still like the Capitol in it. I look around and each wall is silver. The rope hasn't released me yet. A lady then comes over to me, wearing a white coat. She has a strange thing in her hand. It's like a needle thing. Why is she coming at me with a needle!?

"District 10, this is your tracker. It can track you in the arena," she says in a rude tone. Wow I guess they certainly do not want to lose us. "Stay still and I can get is in easier." The metal object enters my skin and a blue light appears in my arm. I close my eyes and my face becomes squished up. The ladder releases me and I step off. Zipporah is raised to men and we walk to a separate room.

The hovercraft takes us high above the Capitol and then the Capitol speeds out of sight. There is breakfast on a small table. I sit in a wooden chair and Zipporah sits across from me. She smiles at me as I try to eat a healthy meal before I am put into the arena. I pick a piece of toast, fresh fruit, and some orange juice that gives me a bit more energy. Face it, I will need every last bit of it.

I finally finish eating and Zipporah and I head back to the ladder when the hovercraft stops. I go down first. I do not land on anything the ladder just goes through a strange tube that goes, I am guessing, under the arena. A peacekeeper escorts Zipporah and me to the Launch Room. District 12 calls it the Stockyard I have heard. In District 10 with call it the room before you are put into the bloodshed.

Sitting on a small, clear table is a dusky brown package. Zipporah unwraps the package and pulls out a jumpsuit. The color is different shades of blues, greens, and browns. A solid black _10_ is written on the shoulders and at the top of the neck of the suit.

"Hm. . . This suit was made for hot temperatures. Expect humid temperatures. It was also made for swimming. It will not easily ruin so maybe some cliffs, Zipporah says and I take in every word. I start thinking of all possible combinations of what the arena might look like. A beach with a few cliffs maybe? Who knows? The Capitol would make the arena outfit suit the arena so nobody died of so you say lame deaths.

The shoes are weird. The fabric is stretchable like the suit I am in. They are very light and semitransparent.

"Also made for swimming," Zipporah says. "The more you kick in water they will sway and make you go a bit faster." Zipporah walks over to me and brushes my hair to the right side of my head. I can feel my eyes tearing up. Zipporah pulls me into a big hug. "I wish you all the best of luck. I love you Aaron. You have been my best tribute to be the stylist for," my face starts to blush.

"30 seconds," a woman's voice comes into the room and the door to the transparent cylinder opens. I start walking over to the transparent cylinder. "20 seconds." This is it. I could die in less than five minutes. "10 seconds." I enter the tube and the door closes behind me. Zipporah! I keep mouthing this to her and she give me a nod and mouths a "It'll be ok."

I start to freak out. Sweat drips down my face. I start to scream out and then the cylinder begins to move upward. I stand straight up so I do not fall off whatever I am standing on. The white glare flashes through my eyes. Everything becomes white and then the arena comes into view.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the 47th annual Hunger Games begin," Claudius Templesmith's voice blasts around the arena.

Nothing. We are on a mountain. A brown mountain. I look forward and the cornucopia is nowhere in sight. I look to my right to see Megan. One down from her is Shine. Shine is looking down. A crater! A huge crater! The cornucopia is a ways down sitting on a small field of grass. It looks hard to climb down. There are shards of rock and dirt. Going down the crater is very steep. How am I going to get back up. Backpacks are scattered around and most of them are dangling off of sharp rocks. I look up to see a timer. One minute is all we have. Snow is falling only by the mountain. I shift my head around to look at what is down the mountain. Swamp! Mud! Thick mud! Water and marshes! I wonder what lies down there to kill us.

This is it. This could be the end of my time. Goodbye District 10, my family, and my friends. I will miss you.


	11. Day1 The First Killings

**A/N: It's here! The bloodbath! Review you guys! Review!**

**11:Day1/The First Killings**

The first thing I do is look for Gavin. Our plan depends on the arena. I find him directly across from me on the other side of the mountain. Katrina is next to him. On the right side of Katrina is Arrow and then Halle. Great we might have to fight Arrow before we get out of the bloodbath. I look up at the timer, _30 _seconds.

I turn to Gavin again and he nods at me. He mouths to me not to go down the crater. I mouth, "I am going down there whether you like it or not!" Gavin nods at me and turns to Katrina. He must have told Katrina not to go down because she is going ballistic. I turn to my left and Talon is waiting to break free and sprint down to the gigantic golden horn. Meg looks at me and I shake my head.

"I'll go around the crater to the other side. Gavin pointed that way. I will get Halle and wait for you over there. Got it?" I barely hear Meg scream the plan and then the gongs sounds.

I jump off my pedestal and land onto the edges of rocks. I mess up my face and sprint down the steep slope. I trip over a rock and begin to fall. I roll over and over. I start to scream. Blood trickles down my forehead already. I finally reach the bottom of the crater. I look up. Gavin is still on his way. I sprint to the gold horn, grab a handful of dagger. I grab a pack and put all the daggers in them, leaving about ten in my hands. I run around the horn and everybody is fighting already. My eyes widen as I see a boy on top of Katrina trying to stab her. She is screaming and kicking. I pull out a dagger and throw it at him. It implants itself in the back of the boy's head. Blood pours out of the scar I made and Katrina gets up.

"Go; get out of here, now!" Katrina gets up, grabs two small backpacks and starts running to the cliff to climb it. I turn around to see Cassie stabbing a girl to death with an arrow with a spot of pink on the arrowhead. My eyes widen and I am grabbed from behind. Gavin throws me to the ground and then yanks me up.

"C'mon! We need to get out of here!" Gavin screams as he pulls me along to the cliff. Gavin holds a long sword and has two backpacks over his shoulders. Strapped to one of the packs is a whip. Katrina is half way up the cliff. I start to sprint.

I turn around while running to the cliff. The sight I see is unbearable. Mira has a trident and is poking it at a girl who is screaming in pain. Tiberius has a short blade and is hitting it against her numerous times. She is crying in pain and the back of her suit is covered in red blood. I scale the cliff's rocks rather quickly, eager to get out of this mess. I reach Katrina and help her all the way up. I look back to see where Gavin is. He is only about one quarter of the way up. I jump down to a lower rock and sprint to him on the steep slope. I grab him and pull him to one side as an arrow hits the rock beside us. Cassie stares up at us with a bloody face and with her bow loaded. She aims and fires again, just missing my ankle. I shove Gavin as hard as I can up.

We finally reach about three quarters of the way up and Cassie has gone back to the bath, ready to kill more. Meg has her hand out to get Gavin while I climb up. I help Meg pull him up and we both breathe heavily.

"Where to?" I ask Gavin. He still is panting for breathe so I turn to see what Halle and Meg got. Meg holds a rather large blue pack while Halle has two small greens ones.

"Let's just head into the swamps. The careers will not set up camp in that ditch. So let's just get down this blasted mountain and into some swamps," Gavin says as he gets up off the rocky ground.

We start heading down the mountain. There are a few caves that go into the mountain, but we keep going. If we hid in one of these caves the careers would find us. The mountain isn't really a mountain. It is just snowing at the top of is where the pedestals are and the size is a large hill. The minute we step off the rocky ground and into the swamps it gets humid.

"Let's stop at the edge here. The careers will most likely be getting all the supplies left at the cornucopia and find a good camp. Everyone check your backpack. Halle, you first," I say as I sit down at the edge of a vined tree that leads into the swamps. Halle opens up one of her packs. It has some dried meat, a water bottle, and a small knife. Her other pack is identical to the first and it holds the same supplies. Meg opens hers next. Hers has some strange shoes that must help you move in the thick mud. It also has a full water bottle, dried fruit, a small saber, and some matches. Gavin's holds a loaf of bread, crackers, dried fruit, dried meat, a long knife, matches, and a strange gadget. Katrina's is next. Hers is full of medical supplies, medicines, liquids, bandages, and a shot with medicines to put in it. Mine has fresh fruit, a loaf of bread, a long saber, a water bottle, which I drink out of immediately, and liquid medicine that goes into Katrina's shot thing.

"Water is a priority. I guess we need to find a good clearing. Trees need water and from the top of the mountain this looked like there was a lot of water in these swamps or whatever you want to call them," Meg says as she straps her pack to her shoulders.

"Meg here," says Gavin as he throws Meg an axe. "I got a few at the bloodbath." Gavin hands her two more and then BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

"Six dead on the first day," Halle says looking up at the mountain. "Let's move," she says with a frightened look on her face. I look up and the career are gathering at the top of the mountain. We all nod and head into the swamps.

We head through the swamps very slowly. There could be anything under a tree or under the thick mud. The trees are very strange. They are made of vines and go up to a big, puffy canopy. We walk through small ponds, thick muds, and tall grasses and undergrowth. The sky, I just notice, is a shade of bright green. A bright blue comes out and we settle our way in a patch of green grass.

The anthem plays and the faces begin to show. First is the male from five, the one I killed. Then comes the pair from 6, the girl from 9, and the pair from 12. Six are dead on the first day of this horror! I settle down, using my backpack as a pillow propped up against a tree. Gavin is the first shift. I watch him for the first few hours and then I slowly drift off in a deep sleep.

**Deaths:**

**District 5 male**

**Pair from 6**

**District 9 female**

**Pair from 12**

**Alive**

**Careers:**

**Shine and Charm, 1**

**Arrow and Tiberius, 2**

**Mira and Talon, 4**

**Cassie, 10**

**Alliance:**

**Aaron, 10**

**Gavin, 3**

**Meg, 7**

**Katrina, 3**

**Halle, 11**

**Lones:**

**Male 11**

**Male 9**

**Female and Male 8**

**Male 7**

**Female 5**


	12. Day2 The First Creature

**A/N: DAY 2!**

**12:Day2/The first creature**

I wake up with a big yawn. Everyone else is sleeping so I decide to take a look around. I walk over to a tree nearby which is sitting in deep mud with vines that come up from the mud. I climb the vine up until a whole trunk of the tree has formed. The canopy is beautiful. Bright colored leaves of blues, greens, oranges, and yellows are at the top. I climb up to look over the arena. Now that I see only the tops of trees it is quite beautiful. There are birds of all colors fluttering around everywhere. Probably waiting to be eaten by beasts that lie in the waters.

"Aaron!?" I hear Meg yell.

"Up here!" I call from the top of the tree. I slide down the vines and go back to the clearing.

"We need to keep moving. The careers are searching all around. I saw them last night, but this clearing was well hidden enough for us to be out of view," Meg says with a worried look. I nod to her and open my pack.

"Here," I say as I hand her two crackers that Gavin fairly split up. She smiles and begins eating, I do the same. Everyone else wakes up and they all eat a few pieces of dried fruit.

We head deeper into the swamps. Halle keeps getting stuck in mud and entangled in vines. She has slowed us down this whole way. Now she is slowing us down even more. I roll my eyes as she falls again and Katrina helps her up. We reach a clearing or deep waters and mud right after that. Gavin goes first into the water and then into the mud that follows.

Gavin stops for a second and signals us to stop. I know why he holds his hand up. The water is moving around and the mud is too. My head looks up quickly from the water and mud that I am now in. A quiet hissing noise has started. I turn my head around and then hear a huge splash. Gavin! He has gone underwater. Bubbles are on the water now. Katrina and I swim over into the mud and a gigantic green snake has Gavin held under water. I dive under, take out a long dagger, and slash at it. Gavin comes up, gasping for breath and then all is still, absolutely still.

I turn around to Meg and Halle. Halle has her knife out and Meg has an ax in hand. Halle starts screaming and she gets pulled under the water.

"Halle!" I scream. Meg dives into the water after Halle, but she is too late. Halle's body floats in the water with a giant bite in her neck. Meg comes up from the water and throws her ax right down into the water. The faint hissing sound becomes louder and Meg repeatedly keeps hitting the snake with her ax.

We all rush over to Halle and drag her limb body onto shore. She is looking at me with bright eyes. "It is bright, Aaron. Everything," Halle says with deep moans and a tear sliding down her cheek. The blood on her neck is coming out green and red. The snake must have been poisonous. I grab a clean leaf and put it against her neck.

"It's ok, Halle. Just don't think about anything. Look at me now," I say with a clam voice. She smiles at me and then stares off into the distance. Her eyes stray off from mine to something behind me and then they close and a canon sounds.

I slowly turn my neck around to see what she was looking at. I just have time to get up before Charm throws a spear right into Halle's chest. Shine and Charm are pursuing on us.

"Run Meg!" I yell at Meg who runs for a tree. Shine runs for Meg, but just misses grabbing her leg so she fights Katrina. Gavin is helping Katrina with Shine by slashing out his whip at her. I trip and Charm is on top of me. I feel my face sink into the mud and water. I bring my legs up and he flies off of me. I grab my dagger and throw it into his ankle. His yelps in pain and start to curse at me. He then regains balance and runs for me again with a long sword in hand. He slashes at me, but I have good reflexes and I am able to deflect it with a short dagger. I scream as Charm slashes the sword over my shoulder blade. I pull out a short, but sharp, dagger and throw it into his chest. I stare at him as her falls to his knees. I turn around to go help the other, but Charm grabs my ankle and I trip into the thick mud. I can feel him standing on me with the spear in hand. Then all weight goes off me and I get up. An ax is placed in his skull. I turn around to see Meg holding her axes and Shine, gone.

"Where'd she go?" I ask them.

"She ran when she saw the ax enter his ax. She knew she couldn't beat us alone," Gavin says. I turn to Katrina, who is bandaging up a wound on her shoulder. I walk over to her pack and pull out a bandage for myself. I wrap it around my shoulder a few times so the bleeding stops.

"We better keep moving," Meg says to us with her supplies ready. "Shine will tell the other where we are and they all will come. We have no chance with each career."

"The one good thing is we killed one," I say right before the canon sounds for Charm. I see two hovercrafts up in the trees. "Let's move so they don't get us instead of them," I say while pointing at Halle and Charm. The hovercrafts pick them up with a silver crane that comes down.

We reach a waterfall and settle down in a clearing by it. It is dawn now and everything is weird. I almost killed another person today, Charm, but Meg killed him for me. I am not becoming a career. All I want to do is make their deaths quick. I would never torture a person, maybe a career. . .

"Let's eat a bit," Gavin says after a while of silence. We each get one piece of bread, which I cut with a dagger. The taste floods my mouth and I am grateful. I haven't eaten since the crackers this morning with Meg. This Capitol bread isn't too bad. "Aaron, Katrina, go get some firewood for a fire," Gavin says while he practices lighting a match.

Katrina and I walk over to the waterfall and pick up a few twigs and sticks.

"Think it's fresh?" Katrina asks me while she points at the waterfall and small pond that follows.

"Yeah, probably," I say and walk over to the pond. I cup my hands and put them in the water. I bring my hands up to my mouth and take a sip of the water, Yum! "It's great and cold!" I yell to Katrina and we both pull ourselves into the pond. I swim over to the waterfall and put my head in it. So refreshing after the fighting. She smiles at me and pulls out her water bottle. I do the same and start to drink it. I fill my water bottle one last time and then Katrina and I go back to the clearing with a bushel of sticks and twigs.

"Perfect!" says Gavin and he sets them up in a small pyramid. Meg has been collecting leaves so the fire would start sooner. She puts the leaves on and Gavin starts a fire.

"I'll keep the first watch guys," I tell them, seeing that I didn't watch last night at all. This is a bit boring, sitting here, waiting for death to arrive. The forest is dark and all you can hear is the faint animal sounds and then the anthem plays. Halle's face is the first to show up in the sky. She has that same smile that she always had on the portrait of her. Charm is next and he just has an evil smirk. I didn't expect him to get far in the Games. He got an 8 in training and that is low for a career.

"Aaron, go to bed. I am not a good fight so I do not need rest. You are a good fighter so if you rest you will be full of energy. I will watch," Katrina says as she gets up. I nod and give her a smile.

"Thanks Katrina," I say and then go over to a tree. The fire has burned out already, but it is still humid and hot out. I take some vines and put extra leaves on them for a pillow. I close my eyes and fall asleep.

**Deaths**

**Halle, 11**

**Charm, 1**

**Alliances**

**Careers:**

**Shine,1**

**Arrow and Tiberius, 2**

**Mira and Talon, 4**

**Cassie, 10**

**Allaiance:**

**Aaron, 10**

**Gavin and Katrina, 3**

**Meg, 7**

**Loners: **

**Male 11**

**Male 9**

**Female and Male 8**

**Male 7**

**Female 5**


	13. Day3 A Non-Career

**A/N:**

**Review!**

**13:Day3/A Non-career**

"Aaron wake up," I hear Meg's voice enter my ears. I open my eyes and the sun is already out and shining. The green sky shines bright.

"Why?" I ask with sleepy eyes.

"Ugh," Meg pulls me up and drags me into the pond.

"Ok! Ok! I'm up! I'm up!" I shout at her and pull her into the water too. She smirks and then pulls me under. Gavin is sitting under the waterfall and he comes to join this small fight, but Katrina just sits on a patch of grass. Gavin dunks Meg and I underwater seeing how he is twice our size.

"Ok, stop messing around! We need to get moving," Katrina yells and she gets up. She grabs her pack and the spear that Charm left. "C'mon!" Meg, Gavin, and I get out of the water.

"Let's get some fish first," I say before we leave our small clearing. "There is bound to be some in this pond." Katrina rolls her eyes at me and takes her spear. She aims the spear and throws it into the pond. It just misses a bright orange fish. Meg pushes Katrina aside and takes out an ax. She aims it and then throws it into a fish's neck. Red blood start to flow in the pond and Meg picks up the fish.

"That's how you do it," Meg says to Katrina. Meg stuffs the fish in one of Halle's empty packs. Meg smirks at Katrina. I can see Katrina's eyes starting to burn with anger.

"Let's go guys," says Gavin and we all follow him through the swamps.

It seems as if the swamps keep getting thicker and thicker with trees and mud. We finally stop as if the swamp ends.

"It's all water and mud you guys. There is trees scattered in it, but if we can get to one of the trees we will be safe because we will be on land," Gavin says. He walks forward and steps deep into the water and mud. More like thin mud. Gavin wades through the mud. "Safe enough guys." We all nod and go into the mud ourselves.

The mud is up to the middle of my thighs. The mud around us begins to gurgle again. "Guys! Faster!" I scream and begin to run through the thick mud. Katrina is next to me running the same pace. Meg! I turn around to find Meg struggling along the current. The whole mud we are in has formed a current and that is when a flash of blue passes me. Another tribute! It's the 18 year old from 9. I remember seeing him in training. He has a gigantic mace in hand and is running through the mud. I scramble backward with the current to get Meg. I grab her arm and pull her along with me.

"No Aaron, go! Go!" Meg yells at me.

"I will not leave an ally behind!" I scream back at her. Meg rolls her eyes and starts to sprint. I look up from the gurgling mud to see the boy from 9 and Gavin fighting each other, hand to hand combat style. Katrina is lying on the ground by Gavin, either gasping for breath or hurt. Meg and I finally reach the tree. Meg gets hold of Katrina and pulls her behind the tree, away from the fighting. I go up behind the boy from 9 and kick him right between his legs. He lets out a cry and falls to the ground in pain.

Gavin pulls out his sword.

"Make it quick, 3. You have this alliance of 14-year-olds I see. Please make it quick," the boy from 9 says and then he closes his eyes. I turn my head around, not wanting to watch Gavin kill this poor boy. The canon sounds and I turn back around. Gavin's sword sticks out of the boy's neck which is starting to ooze red.

"Let's let the hovercraft pick up the body so let's climb that vine to that tree," I say as I point to a vine that connects the tree we are at to another tree. My alliance nods and Katrina climb the vined tree first. She reaches the connecting vines and crawls across it, not wanting to fall in the thick muck.

I go next. It is an easy climb. Once I reach the connecting vine and crawl onto it, just like Katrina did. Meg comes next and then Gavin. We all sit on thick branches, waiting for the hovercraft to pick up the dead boy. The current has slowed down in the mud. The Gamemakers, of course, want to make this hard for us so they make stupid disasters.

When the hovercraft finally picks the dead body up, we go back to the bigger tree.

"Aaron, climb the tree to see if you can see the careers," Gavin tells me and I obey his command. I scale the tree all the way to the canopy. I have gotten used to climbing vines so it is fairly simple. I reach the bright canopy of the mixes of the colored leaves. I look to the mountain. All I see is a big pile of supplies, weapons, and food. Four people are sitting next to it. Four! Only four! That means two are on the loose. And so they are. Tiberius and Cassie are walking through the swamps. They are very close to where the mud got thicker. If they go through the bushes and vines where they stand Tiberius and Cassie will see us.

I scamper down the tree quickly to my allies. "Guys! They are coming, we need to move!" I yell in a whisper voice.

"Who!?" Gavin asks in the same tone.

"Tiberius and Cassie!" I yell to them and they all get up off the grass and vines. "That way!" I point in the opposite direction that Tiberius and Cassie are coming from. The mud around us starts to have a great current again. "We don't stand a chance with sabers or swords guys! We will need to use long ranged!"

"Let's just swim out of here then!" Gavin yells right before Tiberius and Cassie burst into the clearing. The good thing is that a wide range of mud protects us from them.

Tiberius has knives in gadget that connects to his jumpsuit and Cassie has her bow loaded with an arrow. I narrow my eyes. A blue dot is on the end of the arrowhead. That's right! At the bloodbath she had pink on it. Maybe poison so they die quicker. She must have learned it in training, how to make liquids like that. She has the same gadget as Tiberius. It is strapped to her waist as well. Except Cassie's does not hold knives. It holds at least 5 different flasks of liquids of different colors. She shoots the blue-dipped arrow at me, but I deflect it with a dagger.

Cassie pulls out another arrow and dips it in one of the flasks and then pulls it back and fires. The arrow implants itself into Gavin's thigh. He lets out a terrifying scream.


	14. Day3 The Plan

**A/N:**

**Pretty good chapter I would say, review c'mon!**

**14:Day3/The Plan**

Gavin is still screaming. Something is happening to him. He is twitching on the ground hysterically.

"Gavin!" Meg keeps screaming while Katrina and I block the arrows and knives coming at us.

"We need to get out of here! Meg help me lift him!" Meg nods and Katrina keeps blocking the arrows and knives. I hear Katrina scream. Katrina got it below her chin. Her chin is bleeding like crazy. Meg and I get Gavin and throw him across to another tree, but he lands in the thick mud. "C'mon you guys!"

Meg and I wade our way into the mud. We get Gavin out of the mud and behind a tree so the knives and arrows keep missing.

"Katrina!" I yell as I hold out my hand for her. I drag her onto the small platform of grass and the tree. We all sit behind the tree. "We need to get out of here," I tell Meg and Katrina while Gavin twitches. His wound is dripping red and orange now.

"If we reach that patch of tree to the right we will be out of sight," Meg says pointing to the right. She is right. The trees become thicker that way and the mud thinner.

Katrina grabs Gavin's hands and I grab his feet.

"1. . . 2 . . . 3! Now!" Katrina and I throw Gavin across and he lands in thin mud which is almost water now. Katrina, Meg, and I sprint through the mud to get to the trees. We take turns dragging Gavin through the trees. "We should speed up. They could be on our tails," I say as Gavin starts to calm down a bit. It was like Cassie's arrow tortured him.

We settle in a large clearing surrounded by trees.

"Meg, toss me my pack!" Katrina yells, ready to help Gavin. Meg does as she says. Katrina takes out her shot and some bandages. "Aaron toss me the green liquid in your pack! I remember reading it in training. The green liquid goes into the needle. The green liquid affects poison like this," Katrina says while putting the green liquid I just tossed her into the needle tube. When the liquid is in she thrusts the needle into Gavin's arm. Gavin lets out a cry of pain and then he stops twitching. Finally, peace. . .

The moon is now coming up over the bright green sky. The anthem plays and the male from 9's face shows up in the sky.

Everything is strange. The careers are not hunting in a pack, they are hunting in pairs to try and weaken us, but we won't go down without a fight. I will tell my alliance in the morning about. I take one last look in the sky and fall asleep.

**Deaths:**

**Male 9**

**Day 4**

I wake up to a blood-curdling scream. It is a lower voice so I am guessing it is a male. The moon is just a little below the horizon and the sun is coming up. So it must be dawn.

"HELP!" the male cries. I look around the ground to see all of my allies asleep. A canon sounds and I shake my head clear.

"Must have gotten in the way of the careers," Meg says and I jump.

"Scared me there, thought you were asleep," I say back to her.

"Oh Aaron. Are you scared at all? Three of us have to die, that's a fact!" Meg says.

I nod and say, "Of course I'm scared. I think we all our."

"Yeah, but what about Gavin? Cassie shot him with an arrow and who knows if the stupid Katrina is as smart as she says. I for one don't trust her at all."

"We have no choice but to trust her. The more people we have in our alliance the better," I say.

"No! It's not right. All of us are waiting until we are the pigs for slaughter!" Meg says in an angry tone.

"No because then we can defeat the careers!" I yell.

"And then kill each other!? I bet Katrina would love killing me and I bet you and Gavin would have a fair fight too!" Meg yells.

"You're right. I would have a good time killing you, ally," Katrina says and Meg and I look up with wide eyes.

"Just if we killed the career alliance, that's all," Meg says, trying to cover up for what she said.

"Well, the ax girl things I am dumb," Katrina says with a slight smirk.

"Shut up!" Meg says and before I know it Meg has jumped at Katrina.

"Stop it! Guys! Stop!" I yell at them and Gavin wakes up.

Meg and Katrina are beating the tar out of each other. Katrina pulls out a knife and nearly misses me because she doesn't want me in this. I grab Katrina from behind and throw her to the ground. Gavin grabs Meg from behind and twists her arms back so she cannot move. I do the same as Katrina.

"Stop it you idiotic girls!" Gavin yells. "Much of a riot that the careers probably are coming for us! You two die first! Gosh!"

"Let's just calm down you guys. And keep moving! We all want to escape this mess. If we turn on each other, we will be on our own. The pack will pick of us one by one alone. Then they battle it out by themselves," I say before Gavin can make Katrina and Meg feel any worse than they already do. They all nod and we keep moving.

This arena is going to end at some time and when it does none of it will be good. There would be a wall or invisible shield blocking it.

"Does the arena ever end? I mean have you seen past videos of the shield to come into play?" I ask my alliance. They shake their heads. "I say we turn back then." They all nod and we start to move closer the mountain.

We reach the swampy mud and water again. It seems a bit deeper. Gavin goes in first, as usual and then me. Meg and Katrina go together which is surprising after their little argument. The water around us gurgles again. I just hope a gigantic snake isn't slithering through the mud waiting for the prey.

Wading through the mud is getting harder. The water is getting deeper everywhere. The clearing that Tiberius and Cassie fought us at is ankle high in water and mud. We reach it and crawl onto the clearing.

"The water. . . It's rising Aaron," Gavin tells me and I nod.

"Um, you guys!" Meg shouts and points at the deep mud and water. "It must have gained at least a foot now." She's right! The mud and water is all mixed together now and it is way deeper. My eyes widen as a small wave comes out of the jungle beyond the mud and water mix. Some of the trees even slant from it. The wave dies down as it reaches the clearing we are at, but then another comes, a bit bigger than the last one.

"Let's move! The Gamemakers have something big in mind I bet. Yeah, how do you like that!? Smarter than you fools!" Katrina screams while staring in the sky. "Who the hell do they think they are!?" Katrina asks us all. Katrina is going insane. A lot of people go mad in the arena, but I did not know Katrina was this sassy.

"They are the people who create the games, Kat!" Gavin yells in her face.

"Don't call me that!" Katrina spit at him. I know better than to call Katrina Kat now because of her bad temper. She keeps a dagger and spear in her hand at all times. Must think Meg will backstab her.

"C'mon, let's just keep moving," I say and another, even bigger, wave comes and almost passes the clearing.

"The water guys! Did you see it!? Most water isn't blue, blue. Look!" Meg shouts while another wave comes. She is right. The water is a deep blue. It looks likes the blue has a tint of orange too.

"Let's just get out of here before anything bad happens!" Gavin yells and we get a move on.

Every pool of mud and water we pass is deeper. We are walking in ankle high water and mud everywhere now because the whole arena flooded. It doesn't bother me, but it is getting on Katrina last nerve.

"Ugh!" Katrina yells louder when she falls. "Acting like Halle now." This last sentence throws me off. I grab Katrina from behind and pull her in the ankle-high mud and water.

"What the hell!?" I scream in her face. "She was smaller than every one of us and you know that!" Katrina pulls out her dagger and begins to stab away at me. I let go right away and back off.

"No need to attack an ally, little Aaron!" Katrina yells.

"Ok, again, we all need to calm down!" Meg yells before I can throw myself at Katrina again. Katrina and I both nod.

"Look out!" Katrina yells and Gavin and I jump to the side. I look behind me and a gigantic wave is coming.

"Into the trees, into the trees!" I yell at my alliance. Meg and I scramble up the nearest one. "Meg!" I yell again as she falls and is only holding onto a loose vine. I put my hand down and pull her up. The wave keeps going, deeper in the swamps, closer to the mountain.

"What now!?" I yell to Katrina and Gavin.

"The only bet is. . . The crater, the top of the mountain!" I hear Gavin yell.

We all get down from the trees and look at each other. "The Gamemakers want us to go there! They must have something in mind that they want to do," I tell them. "Run!" I watch another wave, even bigger, coming toward us.

We are sprinting through the swamps as fast as we can. "Hurry!" I hear Katrina say from my right side. I make my legs go faster and they start to hurt. We are jumping logs, climbing up and over vines.

The wave stops right as we reach the end of the swamps. We are standing on rocks now, looking up at the mountain.


	15. Day 4 Another Bloodbath

**A/N:**

**Here you go you guys! Review, it helps a lot!**

**15:Day4/Another Bloodbath**

The careers pile of supplies is in a cave, all of it is sticking out. The career pack must be hunting or hiding.

"The waves are getting closer guys!" Meg shouts.

"The let's run up!" Gavin yells back at her and we all start sprints up the mountain.

My feet ache. Everything I step on is sharp. We are half way up the mountain when I realize that we are not the only ones running up it. A few yards to my left is a girl with long locks of brunette hair. She is sprinting up the mountain with nothing but a sword in her hand, while we all have our packs on our backs. My alliance reaches the crater. Down below is nothing, but the girl from 8. She is panting down at the bottom, sitting beneath the cornucopia.

My eyes widen as Shine comes out of the open. Maybe she was in a crack or cave that was in the crater. Who knows? The girl from 8 grabs her short blade and starts to beat it against Shine, long curved blade. The battle gets more and more intense as it goes on longer and longer. The more wounds they each get the more they fight. Shine has a gash open on the side of her shoulder blade and the girl from 8 has a scar across her forehead. I quickly turn to my allies. Meg is gone!

"Where is she!?" I scream at Gavin and Katrina. The both point down. Meg is running down the crater. "Meg!" I yell down at her, but the wind makes too much noise. Meg has both her axes in her hands and is ready to fight on Shine.

Meg throws her first ax, but Shine deflects it with her blade. Shine grabs the girl from 8 and shoves her against the golden horn. Meg then grabs Shine's golden hair and pushes it to the ground, making Shine go with it. Shine pulls out another blade, but Meg hits it so hard with her ax that it falls to the ground. The girl from 8 gets up and trips Shine. Shine tries to get up, but the ax hits her in the back, making the rocking ground around her turn to blood. Shine's canon sounds.

I wave Meg back up and she nods. She starts to come back up. I see another career; I think it's a career. Talon grabs Meg from behind and throws her to the ground. The girl from 8 is no help; she is waiting at the edge of the cliff.

The cliff! It's moving! The whole mountain is deforming. The walls around the cliff are going down. The whole mountain is disappearing! The walls we stand on start to shake and Katrina, Gavin, and I are thrown down the cliff. I feel my face getting scratched up by all the sharp edges of rocks. Blood trickles over my eyes.

We reach the bottom of the cliff and I run to help Meg. I pull out a dagger and tackle Talon to the ground. I quickly stab her throat so he cannot get up. I stab his shoulders as well so he will die of blood lose soon. The canon sounds. I get up and off of him to look at my allies and the girl from 8. We all stand in the deforming crater, waiting.

"Aaron duck!" Katrina yells and I duck. I watch as an arrow travel over my head and hits the wall of the crater. Cassie, Mire, Arrow, and Tiberius are coming at us. I look what lay behind them and it is the girl running up the crater with me. She lay dead with a spear in her neck.

Gavin immediately runs for Tiberius. I go for Mira. Katrina goes for Arrow and Meg goes for Cassie. Mire throws a trident at me, but I jump to one side, making it hit the rock ground. She throws another, but this times I run at her, making the trident lob over me. I barrel into her, making her fall to the ground. She kicks my feet so I fall with her. I pull our two daggers, one in each hand, and stand up. I am ready to pierce these into her throat. My eyes narrow as I say this. Am I becoming one of them? A killer? It couldn't be possible, all I want is to get out of this arena.

While Mira is on the ground I look around. Tiberius is way bigger than Gavin and is the obvious winner of their fight, for now. . . Cassie and Meg are fighting, Meg with an ax and Cassie with her bow and arrows. Katrina and Arrow are both fighting with small knives. Katrina must of gotten them from Arrow.

My eyes widen as Tiberius picks Gavin up by the throat. I run behind Tiberius and get a good stance. I still hold my two daggers in my hands. I run at Tiberius and jump onto his back, shoving my blades into his shoulder. He screams in pain and drops Gavin.

"Gavin!" I yell, still on Tiberius's back. "Get the others and get out of here! We cannot beat them. The three girls are the best I am betting! Go!" Gavin nods at my request and he runs for the backpacks we had forgotten at the edge of the crater, which is now . . . gone. The arena is all different. It is tall, tan grasses and weird shaped trees that are scattered around. A savanna!

I scream as Tiberius grabs hold of my neck from behind. He flips me around so I am facing him. My daggers fall to the ground with the color scarlet on them, blood.

"You're going to pay for this one Aaron. Trust me. You are no match for any of us, especially your sister. She has learned much in the arena." Tiberius says slowly and I start to struggle. He pulls out a nice silver, short blade. I struggle even more. "Don't worry it'll be over before you know it. When you die of blood loss that is." Tiberius's face grows into an evil smirk. He is going to torture me. I struggle more than ever and I feel the blade touch my cheek. My legs are free! I kick my left leg up and into his face. He drops me and his blade. I feel red liquid dripping down my cheek. I take out another dagger and put it through Tiberius's throat. His canon goes off and I turn around. Katrina and Gavin hold our packs and supplies as the edge of the grass.

"Meg!?" I yell to them. They point. Meg is still in a fight with Cassie. Arrow and Mira have moved on to a boy who is from 7 I think because Meg pointed him out to me one day. I run for Meg just as an arrow goes through her neck. "Meg!" I yell. I feel a tear slide down my cheek. The tear drop to the ground and splatters a bit of my blood from Tiberius onto the ground. Two canons sound. Meg's and the boy from 7's. I turn around and run to Katrina and Gavin.

"We need to get out of here!" I scream at them and we all start sprinting into the savanna. The scattered trees are all twisted up. They are almost like the vined trees in the swamps, except it is all bark. We stop at a tree that provides enough shade for us to be comfortable. Our suits still help us in this heat, but the air is still humid.

**A/N: I will only put the list of deaths and alives at the end of the day, review please! It really helps!**


	16. Day4 The Real Katrina

**A/N:**

**Please Review this. It makes me happy when i know people are ctually reading it. It bursts my energy to make me keep writing too! Ok you guys. I find a great SYOT that I am in. I think ou should checkit out! It's called 99th Annual Hunger Games SYOT by AgentZyiana. I have three tributes in it as well, RubyTIll, Lance Finn, and Eliot Smith. Check it out! Her chapters are long and detailed! Thank you to all who have been reading this!**

**16:Day4/The Real Katrina**

I take out some crackers and begin eating in silence. All of my crackers are dried up now, but most of the food I still have is. I take our some dried fruit and eat that for more energy.

"Water?" asks Katrina, holding up her full water bottle. I nod and take the bottle. I drink some of the cold water and then put it on my face.

"Why do you think the Gamemakers did that?" I ask Gavin and Katrina.

"New head Gamemaker, Abigail Arrow. She must want her Games quick and bloody," Gavin replies.

"Yeah, I was thinking that too, but why would they want the games quick?" I ask him back. Gavin tilts his head.

"Who knows?" Gavin says and I nod.

"Should we stay here?" Katrina asks.

"Yeah, why wouldn't we?" I ask her.

"Because we are in open sight, that's why!" Katrina yells.

"It'd be better if you keep down your voice," Gavin says.

"Gavin shut up," Katrina says casually. I roll my eyes and put all my food back in my pack.

"I'm going to go see if there is any water around here. You will be able to see me if you stand up. I will crouch in the grass so nobody can see me," I say and they nod.

I walk into the grass. I just hope that there is nothing that jumps out at me. The ground is all brown soil. There has to be water someplace. Do the Gamemakers want us all to die of dehydration? No, the head Gamemaker would then be executed for the cause of boredom to the Capitol. I smile a bit. That means that has to be water or. . . The games have to finish quickly.

I reach another tree and sit down by it. I take a few deep breaths. Water is the only thing that my alliance needs to survive. If there is no water we are doomed. My head is hurting now. The arena is just not good anymore. Everyone has to die for me to get out. I shake my head clear and start walking back. My breathing is getting heavier now. My mouth is drier than ever now. My body is all aching.

I finally reach my alliance and they look at me with strange faces. My sight gets blurry. Everything is dizzy though. The sight around my eyes goes black and I fall to the ground.

٭ ٭ ٭

"Aaron!" Meg screams. Cassie is pressing an arrow into her arms.

"Meg, no!" I am laying o the ground with an arrow in my thee.

"Shut up Aaron, I am killing your girlfriend here!" shouts Cassie.

"Stop! Stop it!" I scream at her and then my sight goes black.

٭ ٭ ٭

My eyes open wide with a quick start. Everything is blurry. Katrina is pouring water onto my face, trying to wake me up.

"I'm up, I'm up," I say to her.

"You were dehydrated," Gavin tells me.

"Where'd you get the water? Katrina's was the only full one and I drank most of it," I say and I raise an eyebrow.

"Sponsor. The package had a _10_ on it, but when you fell to the ground we had to open it to see if it could help," Gavin says and I nod. I look up into the sky. The green sky's sun is going down. It is going to be night soon. And that means pitch black darkness.

I look at Katrina who is staring at both, me and Gavin. "You guys. . ." Katrina's voice stops as a scream comes. It sounds like a boy screaming. He's screaming for help, but then a canon goes off and the screaming stops.

"Whoa! Way to go Cassie. A bit of torture in there too," a girl who is either Arrow or Mira says to Cassie a far distance away. The three girls start laughing.

"Well your little sister must have killed a boy or tortured him. Ok let's get to the point. We are in the final 8 right now you guys. That means there will be a feast soon, especially if the games get boring. So you realize we are going to have to split up. My bet is that we split up now. You guys. . . You probably think of me as a jerk right now because of how rude I have been. That was what I was hoping for because if I was nice to you guys then I could never kill one of you. I wish you both a good luck," Katrina says and Gavin and I's eyes are both wide with shock.

"Katrina no! We've made it this far we can make it farther!" Gavin shouts at her.

"No! I am going and that's that." Katrina gets up from the ground and starts to walk through the tall grass. Gavin and I can barely see anything now because of the darkness. She must have wanted it this way, to not be able to look for her.

"Now what?" I ask Gavin. He shrugs his shoulder and then the anthem plays.

First is the boy from 8 who must have been the boy screaming this morning. Then it's Shine. Her portrait stares at us with the happy face she always had. Shine's portrait goes down and then Talon's comes up. Next is the girl from 5. The one that was running up the mountain next to me. After her comes Tiberius and then it is Meg. She looks at us with a sad face. Meg was never proud to be in these games. The last to show is the boy from 11. This must be who was just killed before Katrina left. Eight of us are left, the three career girls, Gavin and I, Katrina, the girl from 8, and Meg's district partner. I still wonder why the three girls are still hunting. They must want to get all of it done so they can fight themselves.

"Why did Katrina leave do you think and why would she act rude and cruel? That to me is kind of dumb," I say to Gavin.

"Who knows? I never really even knew her in my district. A lot of people in District 3 say that it is pointless to make friends when in the end you have to betray them. I don't agree with it because if I didn't have any of you guys then I would probably be dead. We all would," Gavin replies and I nod.

I set my backpack under my head again for a pillow. I let out a big yawn and fall asleep

**Deaths**

**Male 8**

**Shine 1**

**Talon 4**

**Female 5**

**Tiberius 2 **

**Meg 7**

**Male 11**

**Alive**

**Cassie 10**

**Mira 4**

**Arrow 2**

**Gavin 3**

**Aaron 10**

**Katrina 3**

**Female 8**

**Male 7**


	17. Day5 The trio's new style

**A/N:**

**Hey, you must be sick of me asking you to review so I will say to. . . ReViEw my story ;) Thank you all to are reading and ReViEwing ;) This chaapter was weird to write, but the next one will be a bit surprising and dramatic! I hope you like it! OMG I almost forgot. My POLL! Check it out, it is voting for your favorite character i nthis. I want to see your guy's favorites!**

**17:Day5/The trio's new style**

"Aaron, wake up," Gavin's voice fills my ears.

"What?" I ask him.

"We need to move now. The trio walked by last night. They barely saw us because we are behind the tree," Gavin replies.

"Why would any of that matter?" I ask him.

"They aren't just hunting." I raise an eyebrow. "They are walking around the savanna, round and round, in circles." My eyes grow wide as he says this.

"So if we. . ." I say.

"Yes! If we just follow them, staying a ways behind them then we will never run into them except when they turn around," Gavin interrupts me and I agree with him.

"We just have to wait until we see them," I say and Gavin nods.

"Maybe not," Gavin says, pointing to the cornucopia. He's right. The three girls are collecting supplies and weapons.

"Must be moving their base," I say.

"Ready?" Gavin asks me and U give him a determined nod. "Let's go!"

We travel through the tall grass quickly but quietly. Gavin and I slow our pace as we come near to the golden horn. If only we could pick up a few more weapons that are scattered onto the ground. The ground around the cornucopia is all dirt, dry dirt. There are many weapons scattered around it.

"Ok guys! I have all I can carry!" Mira yells to Cassie and Arrow who must be inside the horn.

"Ok!" shouts Cassie, coming out of the horn with two full quivers of arrows, a small knife, and a backpack that has two water bottles hooked to it. "I'm all set as well."

"Ok guys. Plan is that all of this stuff will disappear before the feast, but if anyone comes in for it we attack. Got it?" Arrow tells Cassie and Mira and they both nod.

Interesting plan. . . It won't work because most of the people smart enough in this arena will not run in for it.

"Gavin, we can get some of that. We need it," I tell Gavin and he nods to me.

"Ok then. I'll distract 'em while you get as much as you can," Gavin replies.

"Ok and if they see me we both grab a lot of supplies and book it out of there." Gavin agrees and get ready to burst out into the open.

I look at the three girls. They are all on one side! Anybody could go to the back of the horn and get supplies from there without being seen. And somebody is!

Katrina is running to the back of the horn, behind it. She is just standing behind it. Katrina grabs a spear and a long blade. She grabs a whole pack and a full jug of water. Before Gavin and I know it Katrina is already back into the tall grass.

"Ready?" I ask Gavin and he nods.

We both burst out into the open. I sprint straight toward some pointed daggers and a pack of food and water. I look back at Gavin who holds his whip and a long sword. Cassie has her bow, Mira is coming at him with tridents, and Arrow has her knives ready with a mace in her hand. I grab the pack and throw it toward the tall grass. I grab full water bottles and hook them to another pack. I put some daggers in the pack too. I run into the horn to see if there is any weapon that would suit Gavin well. I decide to go through different types of blades. I find one with a handle, but the whole silver blade itself is just a curved metal thing it looks like. I hook it to the pack and sprint back outside of the cornucopia.

I pull out a dagger and throw it as hard as I can at Cassie. She deflects it with her bow and gives a snarl at me.

"Gavin, c'mon!" I yell to him and he runs to me.

"We need to get out of here, fast!" he yells back at me.

Gavin picks up the pack that I filled and I pick up the one I threw to the grass. We sprint into the tall grass, not ducking because we know they are high on our tail. I turn around to see the three girls sprinting at us. I turn back around to be more stable while running. I can't stand this! Running from an enemy and not watching what they might throw! I turn back around to see them. My eyes narrow as a hand comes out from the grass and grabs Arrow, making Arrow trips and making Mira fall over her. Cassie stops to help them and then they pull out the tribute's hand. I can see him there with a terrified face. Meg's district partner, staring up at the three girls.

"You are going to die! Just like Meg did!" screams Cassie. Cassie pulls out an arrow and dips it into a flask. Gavin tugs my shoulder for us to keep moving and get out of sight.

I am panting hard and freaking out when the canon sounds. My breathes are heavy again so I take out some water. I pour some over my face and some into my mouth. I let out a heavy sigh of relief. How did we escape at all?

Gavin and I settle at a large tree. Instead of dirt surrounding the tree the tall grass surrounds it. I sit down in the grass and begin to slick some bread. My loaf is almost gone, maybe about four pieces left. I take out some fruit I have and put it on the piece of bread I cut. This is probably my first good meal in the arena. Mostly we've been eating dried fruit, dried meat, and crackers.

"Aaron, climb the tree to see where the careers are," Gavin says and I nod.

I scale the tree's branches carefully, not wanting to step on a light one so it snaps. I reach the canopy of the tree. It provides enough room for me to stay hidden but still poke my head through the leaves. I climb another branch to get to the top of the canopy. It's much cooler out here when I poke my head out. I yawn and look for the other tributes. I can see Katrina. She is just in a small clearing of shorter grass. The careers are easy to find. They are wondering about the cornucopia. I guess they haven't started to hunt since they killed the District 7 boy. The sky's sun is setting and the moon is coming up. I climb back down the tree.

"Anything?" Gavin asks me.

"They are at the cornucopia and Katrina is in a patch of clearing. No sign of the other girl," I reply. Gavin nods.

"I think we should sleep in the tree because if they start hunting again than we are doomed." This would be safer so I give Gavin a nod.

Gavin and I climb the tree with our supplies. We hook our supplies to different branches and climb up to the canopy. Gavin settles on a thick branch and I settle on the top of the trunk of the tree.

The anthem starts to play so I look out of the canopy. The boy from 7's face appears in the green sky and then silence. I rest my head on some leaves and fall asleep.

Every night I almost always have nightmares, but I have gotten better with controlling my emotions. I have learned on my journey in the arena because if I have a mental breakdown all of mine and Gavin's sponsors go away.

**Deathes**

**Male 7**

**Alive**

**Cassie**

**Arrow**

**Mira**

**Gavin**

**Aaron**

**Katrina**

**Female 8**


	18. Day6 The Feast

**A/N:**

**Shout out to Jmur who is a guest! He left me the best review ever and I thank you for that! It's finally here you guys, the feast! Check out nevergone4ever's story too , the 68th HG one! It's awesome! Thank you again to all my fans and reviewers, please ;) ReViEw!**

**18:Day6/The Feast **

"Good morning tributes. I know it is not nearly dawn, but this will give you guys enough time to prepare. A feast will be held exactly when the sun rises. All sorts of things will be there. Water, new weapons, fruits, meats, and deaths. Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor." My eyes shoot wide open as Claudius Templsmith's voice floods my ears. I look up and through the canopy. It is still dark out. The moon is almost down though.

"Gavin what do you think?" I ask Gavin.

"I say we go for it. We are running out of water quickly, but our food is doing ok. I could do with a new weapon too. Maybe like a techy weapon, if they have them. I want a mace though for sure," Gavin replies. I give him a confirming nod and we climb down the tree, collecting our supplies strapped to the branches.

"Might as well start walking to the cornucopia," I say and we start walking. I yawn and get some water out. I need to have full energy if I want to survive this feast because if I don't I will die.

When we reach the edge of the tall grass we sit down and wait. I can see a tint of sun coming up on the horizon and that means the feast with start any minute.

"Gavin we never made a plan on what we are doing? Should we wing it?" I ask Gavin.

"No because then we won't be prepared on what each other are doing. This may sound harsh but I think you shoulder get the supplies we need. You are faster than me anyways. I just don't wanna make it seem like I am putting only your life in danger. If somebody attacks I will be out in an instant, you know that," Gavin says to me and I absorb the words.

"I understand. I collect some water, a mace for you, and maybe some food if I have time. We need to kill at least one of the girls though. It sounds weird I think, that we are the only two boys left. I am quite astounded that Tiberius died when he did especially that he was killed by me," I say to Gavin while nodding at his request of the plan.

"Look!" Gavin says in a small holler. I look to where he is pointing, the center of the arena, the cornucopia. A silver table is coming up from the ground. It does hold a gigantic feast on it. I quickly look for what I need most. Two maces are leaned up against it. A few chugs of water are placed on it. There is even a whole med kit. A backpack labeled _For wounds and other needs _is right by the two maces. It's now or never.

I take a quick look at Gavin before I break into a full out sprint to the cornucopia. I look to my right to see the girl from 8 coming at me. We get to the table at about the same time. She looks at me and then grabs a pack, a chug of water, which is about a gallon of water, a few throwing stars, and lastly a compass. I quickly try to forget about her because she is not the enemy who wants to kill me right now.

I grab a fairly large pack and take everything in it, out of it. I put two chugs of water in it, one for me and one for Gavin. I put a few more daggers in the pack too, but hold on to 7 of them in case of fight is about to come. The pack is very heavy so I decide to just throw it toward the grass where Gavin and I were and where Gavin still is. I start sprinting for the grass, but a knife stops my trail.

I duck just in time before Arrow's knife hits me. I watch it fly over my head and then stand up. I start charging at Arrow and we hit each other in a full out collide. I fall to the ground, but she trips as I entangle my feet into hers. I get up, but Arrow quickly grabs my hair and pulls me back to the ground. I clench my fist and punch her right in the nose. Scarlet liquid start coming from her nose and I push myself onto her with a dagger in hand.

"How's it going?" I ask her with a smirk.

"Fine and don't try any funny talking, that's my thing. She quickly kicks me off of her and instead of me pinning her, she pins me. "This is more like it."

Arrow's knees are on my hands and her feet are holding my legs together so I cannot kick. Arrow's elbows are in my shoulder while her right hand is holding a knife on my throat. If I breathe to heavy my throat will touch the curved blade.

"Let's get down to business. Cassie was mad that I would get your kill so I promised a good show to her. I told her that I would make her proud. Favorite shape in particular?" Arrows body weight is forced off of me and I stand up. I look right by the cornucopia. My eyes widen as I watch the side. The sight of helpless Katrina being torn to bits by Arrow.

"Katrina!" I yell to her. I just make out her face, scared and bloody. Her beauty is nothing anymore. It's no more than a red figure being cut up and tortured. I try to tune out the screams of Katrina.

I pull out a dagger to throw at Arrow, but my enemy gets to me first. Cassie plunges into me, forcing me to the ground again.

"Nice to see you again Aaron," Cassie says with an evil smile on her face. "Oh don't worry, Gavin hasn't betrayed you. Mira and him are fighting. Quite a show really especially when the trident when into his arm. Ha! What a loser he is aye?" I watch Cassie as she pulls an arrow from her sheath and dips it into a black and red liquid mix.

"He's anything but a loser," I say back to her and spit.

"That's nice," she says not paying attention while she covers the arrowhead in the mixed liquid. "This one is not torture like the one I shot at Gavin. It is plainly normal except for the fact that there is my favorite liquid on it. When this liquid enters skin, it burns like flames. The blood that comes from it stains. It will never come off your body as long as you live. Let's get started shall we?" I scream as the arrow enters my skin. Cassie is carving something into my arm. My eyes are closed tight and I am trying to break free. It is no use. The pain is torturous. It feels like burning. Burning only in certain places of my arm. The weight is pulled from me again and I hear a canon. I open my eyes.

I see the dead figure of Katrina, all bloody, sitting up at the cornucopia. Cassie has vanished. And then the last sight I see. Gavin holds a mace above Arrow's head. My eyes widen and the mace makes contact with Arrow's skull. Torn to bits, Arrow starts to scream.

"Let's go! Now!" Gavin yells at me and he grabs a pack. I run over to the pack I had made before and we make a run for it back into the tall grasses. Another canon fires. Arrow and Katrina are dead.

Running hurts like hell. My arm is in pain and I feel all the blood trickling from my arm.

"Find a clearing. . ." I tell Gavin, feeling dizzy.

We settle at the same small clearing as before. Just a tree ad grasses around it. I put all my stuff down and decide to look at my bloody arm. I cannot make out the print of it because my whole arm is covered in scarlet blood. I wipe most of the blood from my arm and then I make out the sentence. Each letter outlined in blood with blood trickling from it, drop by drop. I look at the sentence and read _You were made to be tortured and you are a traitor_.

**Deaths**

**Katrina, 3 (when I pictured her death I felt disgusted)**

**Arrow, 2**


	19. Day6 The end of another day

**A/N:**

**Not an important chapter, but it's good. May seem boring but these chapters are what makes what happens next. ReViEw!**

**19:Day6/The end of another day**

Cassie would think that I was made to be tortured. More like she was made to be a torturer. She's has gone from the popular girl in school to completely psycho.

"Gavin look at this," I tell him, putting out my arm. His eyes widen.

"What a loser. No offence but I hate you stupid little sister," Gavin replies back to me.

"Nun taken," I say and we both laugh.

"Did you see Katrina?" Gavin asks and I give him a nod.

"I saw you avenge her life. You killed Arrow. You and Katrina, you said you weren't close why?" I ask him remembering the sight of Katrina's limb body.

"We weren't close except for the fact that I loved her. I killed Arrow in a torturous way just like she did to Katrina. Aaron. . ." I lift an eyebrow. "You are the one who has to win. You need to get home to comfort your family. They've seen you sister go mad."

I shake my head. "I still have killed people though. I will never be able to live the same life, living in the Victors' Village and all."

"No victors that win in the outer districts ever live the same, only careers do. You are smart enough to know that. Careers only live normal because they mostly volunteer for these Games. They train there whole life for it."

"I just don't want to win."

"You do and you will. I will do anything I can to make it happen." I look at Gavin with slight smile as he says this.

"The Finals is coming down to the wire now. One of the Gamemakers will be creating mutations to drive us all to the same place which will be the cornucopia," I tell him.

"What? You want to make our plan for that now?" Gavin says with a smile I haven't seen on him in days and we both laugh.

"You know, in a way I am part career. I volunteered!" I yell.

"No, you are not. I bet you are glad you volunteered too. To save your little sister from the worst fate. She's got it covered Aaron," Gavin replies with a sad look on his face.

"Of course I am not. I didn't think she would go off and ally with careers and I didn't think she would be so mad at me for volunteering. I did it to help her! And she did a poor thing to repay me!" I scream to Gavin and let out a yawn. I feel a tear slip down my cheek.

"Shut up! I don't want another attack from Mira," Gavin whispers and I nod to him.

"When did you fight her?" I ask him.

"The feast. I was coming to save you while Cassie was pinning you. I would of when Arrow was, but I saw Katrina. I came after you, but Mira got in my way. Took a trident to my upper thee," Gavin answers me.

"Oh my gosh!" I yell in a whisper. I look at his bloody thee and take out the first aid kit. I first take out a towel and pour some water onto it. Then I wash the wound. "Get out a bandage Gavin!"

I search the bag for medicine to stop the bleeding while Gavin gets the bandage. I find the cream for wounds and rub it onto his skin.

"Aaron it wasn't that deep at all," Gavin tells me.

"So what? You are going to have to be able to run when the Gamemakers make us travel to the center." Gavin nods at me and smiles a thank you.

"Mind taking the first watch?" Gavin asks me. I smile and nod, grabbing three daggers from my pack.

Gavin stays awake for the anthem. It starts to play and then the faces start to appear. First is Arrow. She looks at us with a bright smile, but with her devil eyes. Katrina's ace comes next. I can see Gavin's face tearing up. Katrina's hair is in a high ponytail and her face isn't happy like Arrow's. The look on her face is full of sadness.

I look over at Gavin. Gavin has already fallen asleep. I watch the moon venture up into the sky after Katrina's face disappears. I wonder if this will be my last night in the arena. I really hope so. Living here is depressing because you are waiting to kill or be killed. I just hope that in the end Cassie and I don't have to have a heated fight. Of course if we do then I will fight her after what she has done to me. I look at my arm again and read _You were made to be tortured and you are a traitor_. How could she stand to do that to me? Why did she? We are siblings and she wants me to suffer.

Gavin's right though. About me winning. I do need to win for Ray and Rose and Spike. If they have been watching her or even the Games they will never want to be with Cassie again. Rose will be afraid of her. Ray will just ignore her, but still will stay strong. Spike. He will probably ignore her too and probably be a bit frightened about a killer living under his roof. I wonder if Cassie would even share her Victors' Village house? I know I will if I am to win.

I stare off into the distance, wondering about how my life would be if I win. Would it be happy? Or would it just be strange? Living in the Victors' Village would be very different than living on our farm.

The sky is a very dark shade of green. I bet everyone can see that the arena's changing, not just that the sky and colors are changing, but that the emotions are changing. Mira and Cassie could betray one another if it gets weird being the final five and they are in an alliance still. Gavin and I are still doing fine though. I hope he hasn't thought about killing me. I guess all who is left is two pairs of tributes, Cassie and Mira and Gavin and I, plus the girl from 8. I wonder if she is good at weapons. She grabbed throwing stars which isn't a very common weapon for District 8. Throwing stars are for District 4 tributes. My guess is that District's 8 most common weapon is a needle for like sewing things, but it's more high tech.

I look at Gavin and see his eyes open.

"Can't sleep," Gavin says and then he sits up.

"I don't think any tribute can anymore. Think Cassie and Mira are still hunting?" I ask him. He shakes his head. "Me either."

"You should get some sleep. I got a few hours and that's enough for me seeing how tomorrow could be the last day." I nod to him and use my pack a pillow again. I slowly daze off into a light sleep.

**Deaths**

**Arrow,2 **

**Katrina, 3**


	20. Day7 Mutations The Final Battle

**A/N:**

**Here it is! The Final Battle! ReViEw! ;) Also, my next story will be an SYOT so if you want to start submitting tributes, you can. I will post the form later, for now just do the usuals, looks, personality, friends, family, reaped?, Volunteered? Why?, Outfit for reaping, alliances, career? Thanks!**

**20:Day7/Mutations are coming and The Final Battle**

"Aaron!" Gavin yells into my ears. "Get up!" My eyes shoot open to dust and dirt. I start to scream as all of dust and dirt enters my eyes. I obey Gavin's command to get up. I get up and squint my eyes. I can just make out the glistening golden shape of the cornucopia in the distance.

"Hurry!" I yell to Gavin as we both grab one pack.

I look up to an orange sky. The whole sky color has changed from green to an orange! It's like a sunset orange. Prettier than the mystical green. I look back from where we were coming from. The sight is unbearable. Tens of strange looking dogs are chasing us in the storm. I think they are called hyenas. We learned about them in school. These are not normal though because their eyes are wide open and they seem like they don't care about the dust and dirt.

The hyenas are gaining on us by the second. Every time I turn my head to see them, they are always a little bit closer. There is no way we will survive this if they go all the way to the cornucopia. The sandstorm and dirt storm, if you want to call it that, is blinding me. My eyes are full of water from the mixture of sand and dirt inside it.

Gavin and I finally reach the cornucopia. The sandstorm doesn't go into the area around the golden horn. I just hope the hyenas stop before coming into this small area. Gavin has already run into the cornucopia and is sitting down, panting for breathe. I look over at him and then hear the scream. I look to my left and see the girl from 8 struggling to get out of the storm. I see a hyena attached to her leg, biting it and trying to drag her back into the storm.

"Girl, hold on!" I yell to her, not knowing her name. The hyena is dragging her back into the storm. I sprint for her and dive into the storm, grabbing her hand. She looks at me with sad eyes.

"Save yourself. Thank you for trying," the girl whispers to me and then she releases her hand from mine. She screams as the hyena pulls her into the storm and then all I see it blood on the ground. I know she's a goner and then the canon sounds.

I wonder what it felt like to die. I wonder if it hurts. If I die I want it to be quick, but I know Mira or Cassie would never make it quick. All Mira and Cassie would do is torture me and then. . . NO!

It was too quick! Another trident enters Gavin's chest. Mira! I turn around to meet Mira, running at me with two tridents. I duck as she throws one right at me. I quickly pull out a few daggers from my pack and start throwing them at her. My aim is horrible right now just because of what I saw. A dagger enters Mira's arm, but it is no fatal hit. I sprint even faster at Mira and we collide, making both of us fall from the impact

I shake my head and stand up quickly. I hear a canon. Gavin! I never got to even tell him goodbye! I grab Mira's ombre hair and yank it hard to the ground. She screams. I pull out a very long dagger. I spit into her face.

"You killed my best friend!" I yell at her. I put the dagger over her throat and I can tell she is full of fear. Mira is breathing heavily and is leaning her head back so the blade doesn't touch her neck.

"Just like my new best friend will kill you," Mira says and then smiles. I know she means Cassie. I quickly slit Mira's throat just in case her and Cassie had planned something. I take out my dagger from her neck and head to the cornucopia. Mira's canon sounds and I get ready for Cassie to come.

Almost immediately Cassie comes out of the sand storm, covered in sand and dirt, with her bow loaded. I never get time to rest! Cassie has two arrows loaded in her bow, each with a speck of green on them. She releases and they both comes flying towards me. I duck just in time and instead the arrows implant themselves into two hyenas. I take three daggers and throw them all at her, hoping for one to hit her. One hits her in the ankle, but I bet that is nothing for her.

Cassie runs up to me and smacks me with her bow. I see a sword hooked to Mira's belt thing. Cassie pulls out a small, curved blade. I need a sword or blade! I sprint over to the limb body of Mira and pull out the sword. I run back over to Cassie and raise my sword. I bring it down upon her but metal meets metal. Cassie twists her blade around and the two blades are hooked. Now this depends on who is stronger. I hold my sword onto her and she holds her just as tight. I am ready to let go. I might be able to duck when she takes a blow at me and then I can cut of her feet. I decide to go for it.

My blade unhooks and falls to the ground. I grab it and swing it for Cassie's ankles. She jumps over it and her blades skins itself across my hip. I scream in pain, giving Cassie time to trip me and pin me down. I have to stay strong for the audience. I need to stay strong for my family back home. What would Ray and Rose be thinking? They are probably watching Cassie and re freaking out.

"I see your sentence hasn't faded. It never will," Cassie says with a smirk on her face. She carefully pulls out an arrow and dips it in multiple liquids. Out of the corner of my eye I see the sword, waiting for its master to pick it up. Me. I look up at Cassie, to her smiling face. I remember that face. I remember the girl at home. I remember the sweet girl in the pig tails. But that girl doesn't exist anymore. There's a new girl in town.

"Why have you done this!?" I scream into her face, spiting.

"To get home," she replies putting the arrow in my shoulder. I howl in pain and reach for the sword. Reach Aaron, reach! Reach! I finally get it and I slice it across Cassie's back. Cassie lets out one of thoughs high pitched girl screams.

I am released from under her and I stand up, sword in hand.

"Guess what Cassidy Garze," I begin, "You don't deserve to go home." Her eyes are full of fear, but before I know it I bring the sword down into her stomach. The canon goes off almost immediately. I leave the sword in the limb, bloody body and I never turn back.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games, Aaron Garze!"

**Deaths**

**Female 8**

**Gavin, 3**

**Mira, 4**

**Cassie, 10**


	21. Caesar's Goodbye

**A/N: Well Aaron has won the Games and my SYOT is coming up, AKA the sequel to this, takes palce 7 years later, but with your tributes! I will put up the form when I post the first chapter of the SYOT. Pm me if you want the form early**

**21: Caesar's Goodbye**

I am ready to go home. When I got out of the arena I don't really remember what happened. I just remember them pulling me up and then I blacked out. They gave me all these medicines and kept poking and prodding me with needles.

"Aaron!" Dixie yells as she finally sees me for the first time. Dixie hugs me and I smile. I think that would be the first time since before I was reaped that I had an actual smile. _I killed my sister _is the phrase that keeps coming into my mind. I killed her, freely.

"Aaron you look great! Sewed you back up in the hovercraft they did!" Dixie yells again

"Alright Dixie. Don't want to know what they did to me in there," I say back to her and she laughs.

"You know, you are from an outer district," Dixie adds in.

"Yeah, that doesn't matter."

"You don't understand. President Snow is not a fan of outer district victors. He will be keeping an eye on you. You know that all he cares about is fear and hope? It's absurd. He came and gave me a chat. Oh and Abigail Arrow, murdered."

"What!? Why was she murdered?" I ask Dixie with a confused expression.

"Too short of games. The president's last words to her was something about making them full of excitement but not long enough for the citizens to enjoy. I don't understand that guy. And with a Quarter Quell coming so soon for the 50th anniversary. Doesn't matter. Zipporah is ready for you. Wants to dress you for your interview."

"Interview!?"

"With Caesar Flickerman about your victory." Of course, another interview. All the Capitol citizens will want to see the prized Victor, me!

I say a goodbye to Dixie and head off through the building to find Zipporah.

"Aaron, great to see you again!" Zipporah yells at me, hugging me tight. She releases and pulls me into a separate room. On a stand is a brilliant orange tuxedo. The pants are silver and glisten as you walk. The shoes are orange and are very shiny. "You get dressed and meet me out here and then I will take you to the interview." I nod to her and strip of my clothes.

I look at the clothes that stand in front of me. I put on a tee and then the tuxedo. The pants are rather comfortable when I put them on. I put black socks on and then put the shoes on.

I walk outside and Zipporah grabs my hand. She takes me to the same place I had my first interview in. "You wait here and somebody will come and get you," Zipporah tells me and I nod.

I sit on a chair, waiting for a person to get me. After about 30 minutes, a man dressed in black takes me to the steps to walk on stage. Portraits of me are glowing behind Caesar Flickerman, who is providing jokes until I am ready.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. . . Let's hear it for this year's victor of the 47th Hunger Games, Aaron Garze!" Caesar summons me onto the stage and so I walk onto the stage.

"Please sit Aaron," Caesar tells me. I need to play it funny.

"Only if you sit down first," I tell Caesar and the crowd bursts out laughing. I laugh with them. No! I stop laughing instantly. I am not becoming one of them. Caesar and I both sit down.

"You alright Aaron?" Caesar asks me.

"Fine, how 'bout yourself?"

"Just dandy. So, Aaron, how does it feel to be crowned victor?"

"Great and horrible at the same time."

"Really? And why is that?"

"I killed so many innocent people. Heck, innocent kids. And it feels great because I get to go home."

"Of course you must be longing about the deaths of your friends, but you are excited to go home?" I nod at Caesar. "And what do you think your brother will think of you coming home?"

"Ray or Spike?" I ask Caesar.

"Both," Caesar replies quickly.

"Ray will be so happy and Spike will be smack talking Cassie."

"Ah right, while we are on the Cassie subject. What do you think about her now?"

"I absolutely hate her." The crowd all gasps. "Sorry you guys," I say to the crowd. "Could you really like your siblings if they joined the opposite team and wanted to murder you?" The crowd all nods in agreement that they couldn't. Good, they are on my side.

"One last question for you Aaron Garze. Your father." I raise an eyebrow. "What will he think?"

"Honestly, I don't know." I lied. Of course I know what my dad will do. Be mad at me for not taking care of Cassie.

"Well then. This is our goodbye to you, from the Capitol. Everybody, Aaron Garze, the victor of the 47th Annual Hunger Games!" I smile at the crowd and then walk off the stage.

Zipporah and Dixie are there to greet me. They dress me in more comfortable clothes and then take me to the train station. Zipporah hugs a goodbye and leaves immediately because she has started to cry.

"Are you ready to get back to District 10?" Dixie asks me as we get into a train.

"I am just ready to get home," I reply. Sitting on a couch with Dixie and watching replays of this year's Hunger Games. "Where's Leporis?" I ask her.

"Staying in the Capitol until the next reaping."

Watching TV I all Dixie and I do until we reach District 10. It's weird. I get to see where each of the other tributes are and what they are doing. My eyes start to doze off and then I am asleep


	22. Home

**A/N: **

**The LAST CHAPTER! You guys should be so excited for a sequel! SYOT sequel! :D This chapter is very short, but it was a good conclusion**

**22: Home**

"Aaron, we're home," Dixie wakes me up with this welcoming sentence.

I quickly get up and run to the window. Everyone from town is here, chanting my.

"Aaron Garze! Aaron Garze!" Everyone yells. I see my family, Ray, Rose, Spike, and dad, who is actually smiling like the rest of them. A giant smile is put on my face.

The second the train stops and the doors open I sprint outside onto the dusty ground. I run right up to Ray, Rose, and Spike. They all start running towards me screaming my name. Ray scrambles into my arms, Rose wraps her arms around me, and Spike stands, waiting for them to move away. Rose stops hugging me and Ray drops down. Spike hugs me.

"How'd you manage?" I ask him.

"We're all good," Spike replies.

I turn to dad, who is walking over to us.

"You won," he begins.

"Yeah and I know you are going to give me crap about not saving Cassie," I say.

"No I am not. Just like you said on the interview, we are forgetting about her. After what she did to you." The minute my dad says this I hug him. "Now. . . Let's get to that Victor's house!" We all laugh.

We all start walking to the Victors' Village. Ray runs up to me and he gets on my back, piggy-back style.

"So Ray, how'd you manage without me?" I question him.

"Awesome!" Ray squeals in his usual high-pitched tone. He is smiling as I carry him. "I have been hunting. It was awesome! Dad has been taking me out into the fields!" I smile back at him as we walk. "And Aaron?"

"Yeah Ray?"

"You kept your promise. You said you would try to win and you did win. Thanks." I smile at Ray and I need to keep my past in the past. I am a mentor now. And now I am safe from the Games, forever. . .


End file.
